{"id":6243,"date":"2026-07-15T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=6243"},"modified":"2026-07-15T00:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:00:14","slug":"house-democrat-wants-reckoning-after-mitch-mcconnell-tom-kean-jr-absences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=6243","title":{"rendered":"House Democrat wants reckoning after Mitch McConnell, Tom Kean Jr. absences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/ZyEKF06uvYE6tNNw-_wUQB73e24=\/0x176:5472x3254\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/14\/1784050899151.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The prolonged absences of Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/18\/tom-kean-jr-june-30-return-capitol-dc-congress\" target=\"_blank\">Tom Kean Jr.<\/a> (R-N.J.) and Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/07\/mitch-mcconnell-health-senate-gop-leaders\" target=\"_blank\">Mitch McConnell<\/a> (R-Ky.) have inspired a bill that would force members of Congress to offer up more information when they go AWOL, Axios has learned.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>The back-to-back disappearances have sparked an intense national debate over the degree to which federal lawmakers are obligated to be transparent with the public about their health.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>After missing nearly four months of House votes for an unexplained health reason, Kean <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/30\/tom-kean-return-congress-absence\" target=\"_blank\">revealed last month<\/a> that he was hospitalized for depression.<\/li>\n<li>McConnell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/12\/mitch-mcconnell-hospitalization-fall-pneumonia\" target=\"_blank\">broke his silence Sunday<\/a> about a weeks-long hospitalization that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/08\/beshear-mcconnell-health-update\" target=\"_blank\">led to rampant speculation<\/a> about his health, revealing he was admitted after a fall and developed &#8220;a mild case of pneumonia&#8221; while being treated.<\/li>\n<li>Both men faced criticism for largely withholding details about the nature of their absences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving the news: <\/strong>Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) is drafting a bill to require lawmakers to file a &#8220;disclosure statement&#8221; with the House or Senate Ethics committee if they fail to appear for votes for three weeks.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The &#8220;Duty of Transparency Act&#8221; would force members to say whether they can perform their official duties remotely and give both an expected length of absence and a designated point of contact in their office.<\/li>\n<li>Members would not be forced to disclose details about their diagnosis or other medical information.<\/li>\n<li>The disclosures would be made available to the public online within 48 hours after they are filed. Members who fail to file would be subject to the ethics process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The details: <\/strong>Members would be required to file their disclosure five days after knowing they will be absent or, at the latest, five days after they reach three weeks of missed votes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If a member is incapacitated, the bill would allow their chief of staff or another designated person to file the disclosure.<\/li>\n<li>It would also allow offices to state in the disclosure if the expected duration of the member&#8217;s absence &#8220;cannot yet be reasonably estimated.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>And it would mandate an updated disclosure at least every 30 days. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Reality check: <\/strong>Bills that limit or dictate lawmakers&#8217; behavior <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/08\/14\/congress-stock-trading-anna-paulina-luna\" target=\"_blank\">often face strong headwinds<\/a> on Capitol Hill because members are loath to give up their freedoms or privileges.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This legislation would likely be no exception to that.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The prolonged absences of Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have inspired a bill that would force members of Congress to offer up more information when they go AWOL, Axios has learned. Why it matters: The back-to-back disappearances have sparked an intense national debate over the degree to which federal lawmakers&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/ZyEKF06uvYE6tNNw-_wUQB73e24=\/0x176:5472x3254\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/14\/1784050899151.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}