Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questions Mitch McConnell's lengthy Senate absence: 'This is not normal'

WASHINGTON, DC: Sen Mitch McConnell has shared new details about the health issues that have kept him away from the Senate since June, while Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questioned how members of Congress can be absent for months without publicly explaining why.

The New York Democrat said health-related absences affect lawmakers' ability to serve and argued that they should be more transparent with the public.

AOC questions Congress absence transparency

Ocasio-Cortez said McConnell's prolonged absence has raised broader concerns about accountability in Congress, arguing that the issue extends beyond the Kentucky Republican and reflects a larger problem with transparency among elected officials.

“I don't even know how this is legal.” Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questioned how lawmakers can disappear from Congress for months without a public explanation after Sen Mitch McConnell revealed previously undisclosed health issues that kept him away from Capitol Hill.

"How is everyone pretending this is normal?" Ocasio-Cortez said. "This is not normal. At all."

She questioned how lawmakers can disappear from Capitol Hill for months without publicly explaining their whereabouts.

People can just go missing without explanation. Not just Mitch McConnell. You had another member here that was just gone for four months and didn't tell anyone where they were. No whereabouts. No transparency," she said.

"I mean, this is... I don't even know how this is legal. I really don't even know how this is legal." 

Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that medical emergencies can happen to anyone but argued there should be limits on how long lawmakers can remain absent without providing information to the public.

"Things do happen. People get into medical incidents. If you're in the hospital, you're in the hospital," she said.

"But I do think that there should be some sort of... there's a line here. And I think almost everyone can agree that it's been crossed. This is not normal. This is not normal at all."

She also suggested that Congress should consider legislation establishing clearer standards for extended absences by elected officials.

Mitch McConnell reveals health issues behind absence

McConnell, 84, recently broke his silence on the health issues that have kept him away from the Senate since he was hospitalized on June 14.

In a statement shared on social media, the longtime Kentucky senator said complications from his childhood battle with polio contributed to a fall that left him "briefly unconscious." During his recovery, he said he also developed a mild case of pneumonia. 

"Leader McConnell is tough as nails," Sen Roger Marshall, R-Kan, said. "This guy survived polio. For days on end, he went through therapy. People have no idea how tough he is."

Even after McConnell released his statement about his medical absence, along with a photo of himself and his wife in the hospital, rumors circulated claiming that the senator could be in a vegetative state.

Although McConnell has said he is not yet ready to return to the Senate floor to vote, he has pledged to complete the remainder of his term before retiring next year, even as debate continues over whether Congress should require greater transparency from members facing lengthy health-related absences.