Health scares and violent threats highlight vulnerabilities for lawmakers

Members of Congress are vulnerable. They are not super men and women. They are flesh and blood like everyone else.

A series of unrelated events in recent days spoke to the vulnerabilities of those who work on Capitol Hill, as health problems affected three well-known congressional figures.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., collapsed during the weekly Senate luncheon 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 which extended over his hand and thumb. He was initially “cleared to resume his schedule.” But McConnell did not appear at the Capitol later this 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 in Kentucky. He fell in his home in 2019 and broke his shoulder.

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The 83-year-old McConnell will leave his position as the top Republican in the Senate in early January, but will remain in the chamber. McConnell is the longest-serving leader of both parties in Senate history.

McConnell did not appear at what is likely to be the final Senate GOP leadership news conference of the year on Tuesday. He also did not attend a ceremony with the other top bipartisan, bicameral congressional leaders to light the Capitol menorah for Hanukkah.

McConnell isn’t the only prominent lawmaker to stumble lately.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was hospitalized in Germany after a fall that resulted in her 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 Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas. “She likes to walk in high heels. Very high. She was on one of her last steps on this marble staircase that didn’t have a 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 spunky,” McCaul said of the former speaker.

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Retired Rear Admiral Barry Black is not a senator, but frankly, his commanding, booming bass is better known than the voice of many senators. Black has always served as Senate chaplain since 2003. He had a subdural hematoma and bleeding on the brain last week and has been hospitalized.

“Chaplain Black is one of the most beloved individuals in the entire Senate. Every day we attend the meeting, he is always here to start us in prayer, delivered with his deep sense of wisdom, grace and eloquence,” said Senate majority. Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y.

The only thing more resonant than Black’s powerful vocal instrument are his words. Black artfully weaves friendly, pastoral advice into his daily intercessory prayers. He prayed that senators “do not allow fatigue or cynicism to jeopardize friendships” in 2019 ahead of the first impeachment trial against President Trump.

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

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

Not much is reasonable on Capitol Hill, and perhaps the most unreasonable thing heard over the past week came from US Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger.

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While the chief was only the messenger, Manger informed a Senate committee that his department recorded a staggering 700 individual threats of violence against lawmakers in November alone. More alarmingly, Manger said there was a record 55 “swatting” calls made against lawmakers in their homes.

“Swatting” is where someone calls in a fake emergency call. The police then send the “SWAT” team to the address and generally rattle the intended targets.

“It used to be that if you know when you went home, you might relax a little bit while you’re at it,” Manger testified to the Senate Rules Committee. “Those days are over.”

On Thanksgiving Day, threats were made to the entire Connecticut House and Senate delegation.

Some lawmakers face more problems than others.

“Unfortunately, I’m on record, possibly for dropping calls,” lamented Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

And these false threats sometimes result in complete disaster for innocent bystanders.

Rome, Ga., bomb squad member David Metroka was racing to join the rest of his squad at Greene’s house when he crashed into a car driven by Tammie Pickelsimer. She later died in a hospital.

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In fact, the threat to Greene’s residence didn’t even unfold in real time. It was sent to the local police and ended up in a junk e-mail folder. Officers found the message several days later and dispatched the bomb squad.

How do lawmakers protect themselves in such a supercharged environment?

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

Lawmakers have long faced threats. Some of the most tragic, chaotic moments in recent congressional history have involved violence. January 6. The shooting of former representatives Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and Ron Barber, D-Ariz. The congressional baseball practice shooting that nearly killed House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.

And then there’s something else that startled everyone who works on Capitol Hill, especially lawmakers who have been targeted in the past: A recent cold-blooded assassination in Midtown Manhattan.

“I find it troubling that there have been public figures who have either remained silent or come dangerously close to rationalizing the killing of (UnitedHealthcare CEO) Brian Thompson,” said Rep. Richie Torres, DN.Y. “If we as a society accept the notion that political differences can be resolved by violence, then that is the end of our civilization.”

“I think the worst part of it is when you saw the reaction where people are supporting the killer,” added Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio.

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

“We are not here to put ourselves or our families at risk,” said Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt.

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Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., has served in Congress since 1997.

“The level of contempt, the level of hate has gone up,” Smith said. “When I arrived as a freshman, I would never have thought for a second that I was in greater physical danger because I was a member of Congress than anyone else walking the street.”

But that is the reality in Congress.

And everyone is vulnerable.