尽管参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)的健康状况可能引发了参议院以外对他是否适合任职的质疑，但大多数共和党参议员周二支持他们的领袖，表示对他履行职责的能力有信心。
“我们可能预计米奇·麦康奈尔每天会检查20秒钟。但在一天中的其他86，380秒，他做得相当不错，”犹他州共和党参议员米特·罗姆尼说。"我坚决支持他继续担任我们的领袖。"
“我觉得他不错，所以，我和米奇相处得很好，”共和党参议员林赛·格雷厄姆(Lindsey Graham)对记者附和道。
罗姆尼和格雷厄姆的观点得到了参议院共和党领导团队成员的认同，甚至包括那些被视为麦康奈尔领导角色的可能继任者的人。
如果麦康奈尔下台，预计有三个人将成为共和党领袖:得克萨斯州参议员约翰·科宁、怀俄明州参议员约翰·巴拉索和南达科塔州参议员约翰·图恩。周二回到国会，三人都表示继续对麦康奈尔充满信心。
“我很高兴他们能够排除一些人们猜测可能已经发生的事情，而且当你81岁时，从脑震荡中恢复似乎比他想象的更难，但他觉得他能胜任这项任务，我认为情况就是这样，”Cornyn说。“只要他想要这份工作，并且能够胜任这份工作，我就想要他。”
“他得到了我的全力支持和大会的支持，”参议院共和党党鞭图恩说。
巴拉索是一名医生，他说国会医生布莱恩·莫纳汉发布的报告也就是说，他没有发现癫痫或中风的证据。
“我真的很高兴看到核磁共振成像正常，脑电图正常，他已经接受了神经病学评估。今天莫纳汉博士发表的报告非常令人鼓舞，非常好，”巴拉索说。他补充说，他相信麦康奈尔拥有必要的支持，可以继续留在共和党大会上。
共和党领导团队的另一名成员、蒙大拿州参议员史蒂夫·戴恩斯(Steve Daines)表示，麦康奈尔在上周的事件后打电话给他，“像以往一样活跃和敏锐”。他说，他仍然支持麦康奈尔担任党的领导人。
缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·科林斯也表示，她在事件发生后的第二天与麦康奈尔进行了交谈。
柯林斯说:“我觉得他已经做好充分准备，能够履行自己的职责。”
参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)在离开华盛顿众议院返回美国参议院工作时挥手致意。不到一周前，他在家乡肯塔基州华盛顿的一次活动中对记者讲话时冻结了30多秒.
乔纳森·恩斯特/路透社
多名参议员表示，他们预计麦康奈尔将在周三的每周闭门政策午餐会上发表讲话。
南达科他州参议员迈克·朗斯(Mike Rounds)表示，他对麦康奈尔有信心，称他“掌握了一切”，但他希望直接从他那里听到更多信息。
“我认为我们中的任何一个人至少都会像另一个成员一样有所顾虑，但我亲自和他谈过。他告诉了我医生说的话。但我认为明天米奇会想和我们所有人谈论这件事，只是为了消除误会。
一些成员提出了关切
尽管绝大多数共和党人仍然对麦康奈尔的领导地位感到满意，但也有一些人提出了担忧。
参议员乔希.霍利。他说，关心乔·拜登总统的年龄而不关心麦康奈尔是虚伪的。
“我很担心，”他说。“如果你担心总统，那么你也应该担心领导层中的其他人。我只是-这是双向的。这不是非此即彼，”霍利说。
霍利在上次领导人选举中投票支持佛罗里达州参议员里克·斯科特(Rick Scott)领导该党击败麦康奈尔(McConnell)。
在去年那场有争议的选举之后，参议院领导人实施了一项新规定，允许任何五名共和党人召开特别会议，讨论党的领导权问题。目前还不清楚是否会有五名这样的参议员来推动这种对话。
与此同时，麦康奈尔的肯塔基州同胞兰德·保罗说，虽然他仍然相信麦康奈尔适合领导，但他对莫纳汉的诊断有疑问。保罗也是一名医生。
“我认为说这是脱水是不充分的解释。有一件事是非常清楚的，当一个人癫痫发作时，脑电图并不总是显示出来，”保罗说。“我和他的个人互动一直很好。我认为他已经胜任了这项任务。所以这不是对他的批评。这是对其公开处理方式的批评。”
Most Senate Republicans say they stand by McConnell's fitness to serve
While Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's health may have raised questions outside the Senate about his fitness to serve, most GOP senators on Tuesday stood by their leader, expressing confidence in his ability to carry out his job.
"We may expect that Mitch McConnell will check out for 20 seconds a day. But the other 86,380 seconds in the day, he does a pretty darn good job," Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said. "I'm firmly behind his remaining as our leader."
"He sounds good to me, so, I'm all good with Mitch," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., echoed to reporters.
Romney and Graham's sentiments were shared by members of the Senate Republican leadership team, even those who are seen as his possible successors to McConnell's leadership role.
There are three men expected to jockey to become the GOP leader should McConnell step down: Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, John Barrasso of Wyoming and John Thune of South Dakota. Returning to Congress on Tuesday, all three expressed continued confidence in McConnell.
"I'm glad they were able to rule out some of the things that people had speculated might have happened, and it appears that it's harder to recover from a concussion when you're 81-years-old than maybe he thought, but he feels that he's up to the task, and I think that's the case," Cornyn said. "I want him as long as he wants the job and can do the job."
"He has my full support and the support of the conference," Thune, the Senate GOP Whip, said.
Barrasso, a physician, said he was encouraged by thereport put out by Capitol physician Brian Monahanthat said he found no evidence of a seizure disorder or stroke.
"I'm really happy to see that the MRI was normal to see that the EEG was normal and that he's had a neurological evaluation. The report put out today by Dr. Monahan was very encouraging and very good," Barrasso said. He added he believes McConnell has the necessary support to remain atop the Republican conference.
Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, another member of the GOP leadership team, said McConnell called him following last week's incident and was "as feisty and sharp as ever." He said he still supports McConnell serving as party leader.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also said she spoke to McConnell the day after the incident.
"I feel that he is fully prepared and able to conduct his duties," Collins said.
Multiple senators said they expect McConnell to address the conference Wednesday at their weekly closed-door policy lunch.
Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said he has confidence in McConnell, describing him as being "on top of stuff," but said he wants to hear more from him directly.
"I think any of us have at least concerns just as another member does but I talked to him personally. He shared with me what the doctors have said. But I think tomorrow Mitch will want to talk with all of us about it just to clear the air," Rounds said.
A few members raise concerns
While the overwhelming majority of Republicans remain comfortable with McConnell's leadership status, a few raised concerns.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said that it'd be hypocritical to be concerned about President Joe Biden's age without also being concerned about McConnell.
"I am concerned," he said. "If you're concerned about the president, then you gotta be concerned about other people in leadership. And I just -- it's a two-way street. It's not one or the other," Hawley said.
Hawley voted to support Florida Sen. Rick Scott's bid to lead the party over McConnell in the last leadership election.
Following that contentious election last year, Senate leaders implemented a new rule that allows any five Republicans to call a special conference meeting to discuss the party's leadership. It's not yet clear if there would be five such senators to force this kind of conversation.
McConnell's fellow Kentuckian, Rand Paul, meanwhile, said that while he still believes McConnell is fit to lead, he has questions about the diagnosis from Monahan. Paul is also a physician.
"I think it's an inadequate explanation to say this is dehydration. The one thing that is very clear is that when someone has a seizure doesn't always show up on the EEG," Paul said. "My personal interaction with him has been fine. And I think he's been up to the task. And so this isn't a criticism of him or anything. It's a criticism of the way it's being handled publicly."
