Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell returned to the Capitol Monday after a five-and-a-half-week absence as his party faces an array of tough political problems: the expiration of the debt limit, a messy fight over the 2024 presidential nomination and divisions over abortion policy. 

McConnell has been the GOP’s steady hand on the levers of power in Washington for more than a decade, and he now faces some of the biggest challenges of his career.  

“It’s good to be back,” McConnell declared Monday in his first Senate floor speech in nearly six weeks, making a quip about the concussion he suffered last month. “Suffice it to say, this wasn’t the first time that being hardheaded has served me very well.” 

The Senate leader’s biggest immediate challenge is to figure out how to help break the impasse between President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the debt limit, which is projected to expire this summer, perhaps as soon as June… Read Full Story

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