McCain still absent from Capitol Hill amid pivotal votes

With January half over, Sen. John McCain has yet to return to work on Capitol Hill.

The veteran Arizona Republican, 81, was diagnosed last summer with a deadly form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma and was hospitalized in Maryland last month for a viral infection and side effects of ongoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

There has not been an official update on McCain’s health since Dec. 17, when he returned to Arizona for physical re-

habilitation. At that time, his Senate office said he was “grateful for the excellent care he continues to receive” and appreciative of the support from around the nation, and that he “looks forward to returning to Washington in January.”

Since then, unofficial reports about McCain have dribbled out.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of McCain’s closest friends, said Dec. 31: “Sen. McCain is in rehab. He’s coming back in January, (and) we need his voice now more than ever.”

On Jan. 2, his daughter, television commentator Meghan McCain, said on ABC’s “The View” that her father was doing well as he continued physical therapy at their family cabin near Sedona.

McCain has not returned to the Senate yet from Arizona, and it doesn’t appear that he will do so this week.

But he has continued to post via Twitter and otherwise make his presence felt. On Tuesday, the Washington Post’s website published a guest column from McCain, who called on President Donald Trump to stop attacking the media.

“He has threatened to continue his attempt to discredit the free press by bestowing ‘fake news awards’ upon reporters and news outlets whose coverage he disagrees with,” McCain wrote. “Whether Trump knows it or not, these efforts are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy.”

McCain’s junior Republican colleague, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, delivered a major Senate floor speech on the same topic Wednesday.

Still, McCain’s continued absence is potentially problematic for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other Senate Republicans, because they control the 100-member chamber with a narrow 51-member majority.

McCain did not participate in last month’s big tax-reform vote. So far this month, he has mostly missed votes related to nominations, but this week, Congress must pass a new continuing resolution to avoid a partial government shutdown.

On Tuesday, senators barely cleared the 60-vote threshold to advance legislation to reauthorize the government’s ability to conduct surveillance on foreign intelligence targets by collecting electronic communications such as emails and text messages.

A final vote to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, provisions occurred Thursday, with the measure passing 65-34.

McCain, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, in recent months has railed against Congress’ reliance on passing short-term continuing resolutions, or CRs, to keep the government running.

“For the past year, I have implored Congress and the White House to negotiate a bipartisan budget agreement, because without one, the military will be funded under a Continuing Resolution at the Budget Control Act levels,” McCain said in a Dec. 7 written statement announcing his opposition to a CR. “Now into the third month of our fiscal year, we must once again pass a Continuing Resolution while we await a budget agreement. That is both disappointing and unacceptable.”

McCain also missed the Jan. 3 confirmation vote for Arizonan John C. Rood, Trump’s pick to be undersecretary of Defense for policy. McCain worked over Rood during his November confirmation hearing before the Armed Services Committee.

“I don’t like your answers. Most of us don’t like your answers,” McCain told Rood, an executive with defense giant Lockheed Martin, at the time.

McCain’s vote wouldn’t have made a difference, though. Rood was confirmed 81-7.