Health fears and violent threats highlight the vulnerabilities lawmakers face

Members of Congress are at risk. They are not supermen and women. They are of flesh and bone like everyone else.

A series of unrelated events in recent days spoke to the vulnerabilities of those working on Capitol Hill as health concerns affected three well-known figures in Congress.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnella Republican from Kentucky, fell during the Senate’s weekly lunch last week. DC Fire and Rescue came to the Capitol to evaluate the GOP leader after he cut his face and sprained his wrist. He was later seen wearing a brace on his arm that extended across his hand and thumb. Initially he was “allowed to resume his schedule.” However, McConnell did not show up at the Capitol later in the week, and his office said he was working from home.

He suffered a concussion last year after falling in a hotel and was out for two months. McConnell also froze at several news conferences — both in Washington and Kentucky. He fell at home in 2019 and fractured his shoulder.

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Facade of the US Capitol Building. (Valerie Blish/Photo Alliance via Getty Images)

McConnell, 83, will leave his position as the top Republican in the Senate in early January, but he will remain so. In the room. McConnell is the longest-serving leader of either party in Senate history.

McConnell did not appear at the Senate GOP leadership’s final news conference of the year on Tuesday. He also did not attend a ceremony with top leaders of Congress from both parties and the other chambers to light the Capitol menorah for Hanukkah.

McConnell isn’t the only prominent lawmaker to falter recently.

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosia Democrat from California, was hospitalized in Germany after a trip that led to the need for a hip replacement. She was there with other lawmakers for the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.

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“I was right next to her,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas. “She loved to wear high heels. They were very high. And she was on one of her last steps on this marble staircase that had no railing, and she lost her footing and fell to the ground.”

McCaul later said he spoke to Pelosi on the phone.

“She had a lot of energy. Very courageous,” McCaul said of the former House Speaker.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks during Nancy Pelosi’s conversation with Katie Couric on 92NY on October 24, 2024 in New York City. (John Lambarski/Getty Images)

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was injured and taken to the hospital while traveling to Luxembourg

Retired Admiral Barry Black is not a Senator, but frankly, his commanding, growling bass is better known than the voices of many Senators. Always wearing his signature bow tie, Black has served as Senate chaplain since 2003. He suffered a subdural hematoma and brain hemorrhage last week and was hospitalized.

“Chaplain Black is one of the most beloved individuals in the entire Senate. Every day we sit in session, he is always here to begin us in prayer, imparting his profound sense of wisdom, grace, and eloquence,” the Senate Majority said. leader Chuck SchumerD.N.Y.

The only thing more resonant than Black’s powerful vocal instrument are his words. Black deftly weaves compassionate pastoral counsel into his daily intercession. He called on senators “not to let fatigue or cynicism jeopardize friendships” in 2019 ahead of Trump’s first impeachment trial. President-elect Trump.

Pelosi was in Luxembourg on Friday with a bipartisan congressional delegation “to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge,” a spokesman said. (Grand Ducal Court of Luxembourg)

During the 2013 government shutdown, Black gently rebuked senators who shut down the government — even though the U.S. Capitol Police remained on the job and were injured during a wild car chase and shootout that shut down the congressional complex.

“Deliver us from the hypocrisy of trying to appear reasonable while being unreasonable,” Black prayed.

There is not much that is reasonable on Capitol Hill, and perhaps the most unbelievable things heard over the past week came from US Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger.

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While the president was merely a messenger, Manger told a Senate committee that his department recorded 700 individual threats of violence made against lawmakers in November alone. What’s even scarier is that Manger said there was a record high of 55 “Multiple” calls. Against MPs in their homes.

“Swatting” is where someone calls in a fake distress call. Police then dispatch a SWAT team to the address, generally destabilizing the intended targets.

“It used to be that if you knew when you came home, you might be able to relax a little bit,” Manger testified before the Senate Rules Committee. “Those days are over.”

The threats were called in on Thanksgiving Day to the entire Connecticut House and Senate.

Some lawmakers face more problems than others.

“Unfortunately, I am the record holder for phone calls,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia.

These bogus threats sometimes result in absolute disaster for innocent bystanders.

Rome, Georgia, Bomb Squad member David Matruka was racing to join the rest of his team at Green’s home when he collided with a car driven by Tammy Bickelsheimer. She later died in hospital.

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US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, speaks before the arrival of Republican presidential candidate, former US President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Johnny Mercer Theater on September 24, 2024 in Savannah, Georgia. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

In fact, the threat to Green’s home was not even being revealed in real time. It was emailed to the local police and ended up in a junk email folder. Officers found the letter several days later and sent in the bomb squad.

How do lawmakers protect themselves in such a charged environment?

“I’m a gun owner,” Green said. “It is very important that I be able to defend myself if necessary.”

Lawmakers have long faced threats. Some of the most tragic and chaotic moments in modern congressional history have involved acts of violence. January 6. The shootings of former Reps. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and Ron Barber, D-Ariz. The shooting during a congressional baseball practice that nearly killed House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Los Angeles.

Then there’s something else that has frightened everyone who works on Capitol Hill, especially lawmakers who have been targeted before: a recent cold-blooded assassination in midtown Manhattan.

“I find it disturbing that there are public figures who have remained silent or come dangerously close to justifying repression. Assassination of (UnitedHealthcare CEO) Brian Thompson.” “We’re going to have a lot of fun,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. “If we as a society accept the idea that political disputes can be resolved by violence, that is the end of our civilization.”

Ohio Republican Rep. Michael Rowley added, “I think the worst part of it is when you see the reaction where people support the killer.”

At some point, the threats may be too much for lawmakers.

“We are not here to put ourselves or our families in danger,” said Rep. Becca Balint.

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Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington state, has served in Congress since 1997.

“The level of disdain and hatred has gone up,” Smith said. “When I arrived as a freshman, I did not think for a moment that I was in greater physical danger because I was a member of Congress than anyone else walking down the street.”

But this is the reality of Congress.

Everyone is at risk.