McConnell Hospitalized, Graham’s Sister to Join Senate as GOP Retains 51-49 Majority

Sen. Mitch McConnell announced Sunday that he was hospitalized after a fall and treated for pneumonia, extending an absence from the Senate floor that has lasted approximately one month. McConnell chairs the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.

The announcement came days after the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham from an aorta rupture. Graham served as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and chair of the Budget Committee. His sister, Darline Graham Nordone, will take his seat on Wednesday and serve the remainder of the term.

Senate Republicans now hold a 51-seat majority. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not passed a spending bill for fiscal year 2027, which includes a $1.15 trillion base for defense outlays. The Trump administration seeks a $1.5 trillion defense budget and is pushing Congress to pass a $350 billion defense funding package through reconciliation.

The Iran war has cost the U.S. an estimated $113 billion so far, with some public policy experts expecting the total to exceed $1 trillion. U.S. munitions stockpiles have been reduced by more than half since the conflict began.

Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to pass appropriations before funding lapses. Peter McLaughlin, a political science professor at the University of Rhode Island, told Fortune the situation involves midterm elections, internal party disagreement over the war, and a funding package that requires partisan unity.

Katherine Thompson, who studies defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute and previously served as a Pentagon official in the Trump administration, said the 14-14 split on the defense subcommittee makes passage of a bill unlikely without McConnell.