» Lawmaker has more surgery as officials track shooter’s path,

WASHINGTON — In critical condition and undergoing repeated surgery, GOP House Whip Steve Scalise faces a “much more difficult” struggle to recover from his gunshot wound than first thought, President Donald Trump said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the House lurched back to business in a somber mood as law enforcement tracked the path the shooter traveled to his ballfield carnage.

Investigators studying Wednesday’s attack at a suburban Virginia park said James Hodgkinson had obtained his rifle and handgun from licensed firearms dealers. Capitol Police said they had “no evidence to suggest that the purchases were not lawful.”

Hodgkinson, a Belleville, Ill., home inspector who had been living out of his van near the park where the attack occurred, had a social media page filled with criticism of Republicans and the Trump administration. He died in a shootout with in Scalise’s security detail.

The FBI said it was investigating Hodgkinson’s “activities and social media impressions” in the months leading up to the attack. Authorities also were going over a cellphone, computer and camera taken from Hodgkinson’s van.

So far, investigators have not linked Hodgkinson to any radical groups, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Colleagues who visited Scalise at a Washington hospital sounded generally upbeat, but spoke more in terms of hopes than their confident predictions of his recovery in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

Democrat Cedric Richmond, a fellow Louisiana congressman, said as many others did that Scalise is a fighter.

“I’m prayerful he will pull through, and I hope he does,” Richmond said.

Scalise was shot at a practice for the annual Republicans-Democrats congressional baseball game. Richmond, who plays for the Democratic team, said he had visited the hospital twice and planned to go again before Thursday night’s game at Nationals Park.

Scalise, 51, suffered a wound to his left hip that shattered bones, tore organs and caused severe bleeding. The House’s No. 3 GOP leader completed his third surgery late Thursday, and a person close to the lawmaker said he remained in critical condition.

President Donald Trump, who had visited late Wednesday, said Scalise was “in some trouble,” adding, “He’s going to be OK. We hope.”

Four other people were wounded when Hodgkingson sprayed rifle fire at congressional Republicans practicing on the diamond in Alexandria.

Also hurt were two Capitol Police officers, David Bailey and Crystal Griner, and House GOP aide Zack Barth, who were treated and released. Lobbyist Matt Mika was critically injured and remained hospitalized Thursday.

Following a day that saw most congressional business canceled, the House approved legislation offering health insurance tax credits to some veterans while committees pondered federal land management, cybersecurity and more. The Capitol’s usual partisan combativeness, though not absent, was less pointed than usual, and warm words were exchanged between some lawmakers with starkly opposing political philosophies.

“There is so much you do that I disagree with,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, a staunch conservative, told his panel’s top Democrat, unwavering liberal Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. “But you have long since earned my respect, and you deserve to be heard, and you are an honorable individual.”

Addressing Scalise, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said, “You are not alone . ... We love you.”

Lewis led a House floor Democratic sit-in last year when Republicans refused to consider gun control legislation.

Members of both parties said they needed to soften rhetorical attacks on each other, if only to set a better example for a public that seems increasingly divided into hostile political camps. It’s a sentiment lawmakers frequently express after mass shootings or terrorist attacks, only to see their sharp oratorical elbows gradually return.

Underscoring the day’s mood, the Rev. Patrick Conroy, the House chaplain, opened the day by seeking divine forgiveness “when we seem to forget that words matter and can become seeds that will bring bitter harvest.”

Still, finger-pointing lingered as some on each side suggested the other had contributed more to the disparaging broadsides they’ve increasingly aimed at each other.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said in a brief interview that Democrats would be reminded of “positions they’ve taken in the past that are not consistent with their voice for bipartisanship today.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., recounted candidate Trump’s comments prodding supporters to pummel demonstrators at rallies and said Republicans were being “sanctimonious.”

The shooting prompted talk of improving security for lawmakers, most of whom are unaccompanied by officers in their normal day-today pursuits. Some have suggested using federal money to provide security cameras in their offices, while others spoke of a need for protection when groups of them appear in public.

The House used a voice vote Thursday to approve a resolution lauding the Capitol Police for protecting lawmakers and stating that “violence has no place” in society. A reading of the measure received a standing ovation.