U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) on November 15, 2022
For months now, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been absent from Capitol Hill amidst swirling rumors about his health. Now it's been revealed how much he has been paid during his hospitalization, and it turns out he and his team have been making big bucks.
"McConnell, the former Senate majority leader who earns an annual salary of $174,000, made $43,500 in taxpayer-funded paychecks during his 92-day absence from the halls of Congress," writes the Daily Beast. "The 84-year-old senator was taken to the hospital from his Washington, D.C. home on June 14 and has not been seen in public since." What's more, his staff has also been raking it in during his time away. According to the Beast, "The Kentucky senator’s six highest-paid staffers earned a combined $318,688 pre-tax in the past 92 days that he has been missing from Capitol Hill. His Senate office is led by his camera-shy chief of staff, Terry Carmack, who earns $226,000 annually. The senator’s communications director, Stephanie Penn, earns about $214,000 per year, as she has presided over this PR disaster. When accounting for the rest of McConnell’s office, which has about 40 staffers including low-level employees, the Daily Beast calculated that his entire staff received around $893,872 pre-tax in the last 92 days that their boss has been missing."
Representative James Comer (R-KY) has suggested McConnell will return to Capitol Hill later on Monday, as the Senate is set to reconvene around 3:00 p.m. Still, he also noted that he had not spoken directly to McConnell, only to his staff. But according to the Beast, "Even if McConnell does not show up to work later Monday, he will continue to make about $476 every day he is gone from the Senate."
McConnell was taken from his home via ambulance on June 14, but his staff did not address that until July 2, prompting a slew of theories regarding his disappearance, including claims he was dead. According to the Beast, however, "After much speculation about his condition, an update from McConnell on July 12 asserted that he did not suffer 'a heart attack or a stroke,' even as a 911 call to his residence mentioned cardiac arrest at the time he was taken to the hospital. McConnell said he was taken to the hospital after a fall and was 'briefly unconscious,' adding that he subsequently 'had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia' while recovering. In that update, he attached a picture of himself holding the day’s newspaper alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, a former Cabinet official in the Bush administration and the first Trump administration. Over a week later, his office released a similar image, again showing McConnell smiling alongside Chao while seemingly in a treatment center His staff has repeatedly declined to offer further information on the state of his health, only providing vague statements and insisting that he is still working on Senate matters."
McConnell has missed over 60 recorded roll-call votes and several high-profile events. As the Beast reports, "Even before his most recent stay in the hospital, McConnell, the longest-serving majority leader in Senate history, announced he would not seek reelection in the 2026 midterm elections. His final term in office has been plagued by a series of health scares, including his frequent use of a wheelchair, falls in the halls of Congress, moments when he’s appeared to freeze up on camera, and a flu-related hospitalization in February."