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3h ago

Tom Kean Jr. Returns to Congress After Hospital Treatment for Depression

His floor disclosure ends a nearly four-month absence and shifts the razor-thin House majority as scrutiny centers on hundreds of missed votes and recent financial and office actions

FILE - Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J., listens during a Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs about Belarus on Capitol Hill, Dec. 5, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, file)
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US Rep. Tom Kean, a Republican from New Jersey, who is returning from an unexplained months-long absence, arrives for an expected floor speech at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on June 30.
Thomas Kean Jr. during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 22, 2024.

Overview

  • Kean returned to the U.S. Capitol and spoke on the House floor Tuesday, saying doctors diagnosed him with depression and recommended a hospital stay that kept him away from Congress.
  • He missed more than 140 roll-call votes since his last recorded vote on March 5, a gap that complicated House Republican operations given the party’s slim working majority.
  • Kean’s office kept up some business during his absence by introducing legislation, filing speeches for the Congressional Record, running an active social feed, and certifying staff travel.
  • Reporting of eight March stock trades tied to Kean’s disclosures and his continued campaign fundraising has increased calls for transparency and prompted ethics questions.
  • The disclosure drew sympathy from some colleagues and renewed Democratic focus on his competitive New Jersey 7th District seat with analysts calling the race a toss-up this fall.