Sen. Harry Reid returns to Capitol after exercise injury

By Amber Phillips

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015 | 9:05 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid returned to work today on Capitol Hill, 20 days after an exercise injury in which he broke bones and at least temporarily lost vision in his right eye.

The Nevada Democrat and Senate minority leader returned to the Capitol just before noon today. He will likely spend the afternoon meeting with fellow Democrats.

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York told Capitol Hill publication CQ Roll Call that Reid will lead the Senate Democrats’ weekly policy luncheon. Reid was not present this morning to giving Democrats’ daily speech opening the Senate, a role traditionally reserved for the the party’s leader.

Reid will also not attend today’s State of the Union, spokeswoman Kristen Orthman said.

Reid, 75, had been under doctor’s orders to work from his apartment in Washington, D.C., since the new Congress started Jan. 6. His staff said he is taking his recovery day by day.

Aides emphasized Reid was still calling many of the shots from home. They tweeted a photo of Reid meeting with his leadership team in his apartment.

Reid’s No. 2, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, read a feisty statement from Reid on the second day of the new Congress in which Reid said, “I have no intention of just rolling over” to the new Republican majority.

In a radio interview with KNPR, Reid said return of vision in his right eye, which pooled with blood after the accident, “is not a slam dunk.” He was still wearing a bandage over his eye today.

Reid also suffered a concussion when an exercise band snapped on New Year’s Day at his home in Henderson.

He said on KNPR that the accident came at the end of his three-day-a-week exercise routine, where he aims for 250 sit ups, does “yoga-type stuff” and resistance-band work.

Reid said he was using the second-strongest band when it snapped “and it catapulted me backwards and to one side, and I crashed into a series of cabinets we have.”

Reid broke multiple bones near his right eye and as many as four ribs as he hit the floor. He said he was lucky his temple missed the cabinets “by just a tiny little bit.”

Reid is up for re-election next year. He told KNPR the injury hasn’t changed his mind about running for a sixth term, despite being a top target for Republicans.

Over the weekend, his campaign sent out a fundraising email highlighting Reid’s work promoting clean energy in Nevada and halting plans to store the nation’s nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.