Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye has been hospitalized while doctors regulate his oxygen intake, said his office Monday.
“For the most part, I am OK,” said the Hawaii Democrat, 88, in a statement released by his office Monday. “Much to my frustration, while undergoing this process, I have to remain in the hospital for my own safety and to allow the necessary observation. I will be back on the Hill as soon as my doctors allow it.”
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He is at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Mr. Inouye serves as the Senate’s president pro tem, a constitutional position that puts him third in line for the presidency.
The senator fell last month and suffered a small cut to the back of his head. He didn’t lose consciousness but was taken to the Bethesda Naval Hospital as a precaution and treated and released.
Mr. Inouye was elected to the House in 1959 — the same year Hawaii became a state — and has served in the Senate since 1962. He was a World War II combat veteran and earned the nation’s highest award for military valor, the Medal of Honor.
