Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., plans to be back at work in “just a few short weeks” to vote on important legislation and nominees after suffering a stroke late last month.
According to his office, the senator began experiencing dizziness and fatigue on Jan. 27 and checked himself into a hospital in Santa Fe. Sen. Lujan is currently being cared for at the University of New Mexico Hospital after undergoing surgery and soon will go to an inpatient rehabilitation facility to continue his recovery for “a few more weeks.”
“I am doing well, I am strong, I am back on the road to recovery,” Sen. Luján said in a video with his doctors. “And I am going to make a full recovery. I am going to walk out of here, and I am going to beat this. And I am going to be stronger once I come out.”
Sen. Luján’s absence has rippled throughout the legislative calendar of the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats by the slimmest of 50-50 majorities. While the senator continues his recovery, Senate Democratic leaders have focused on relatively uncontroversial nominees and legislation that garnered support from both sides of the aisle, while delaying votes on other items including the nomination of Gigi Sohn to become FCC commissioner.
Sen. Luján did not give a specific date for his return to the Senate.
