House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) provided an update on his fight against blood cancer.
The high-profile Republican lawmaker gave colleagues a health update in a closed-door conference meeting before attending a news conference on spending negotiations.
On Wednesday, Scalise said he opted for an “aggressive form” of chemotherapy to combat the cancer that was “doing a lot of damage” to his body. He said so far he has gone through a roughly three-and-a-half-week round of treatment followed by evaluations. (RELATED: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise Reveals Blood Cancer Diagnosis)
“We're continuing to follow my doctor's advice and my doctor said, ‘You can come back to work.' And that's why I'm here. And we are here for a full week of work and whatever else it's going to take,” Scalise said.
Upon opening the forum to questions from reporters, Scalise joked about his condition, saying, “I can run as fast as before the shooting, I guess.” Leaning toward House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), he added with a smile, “as Emmer would say it wasn't that fast.”
The congressman went on to talk about how the House is moving to pass spending measures to fund various arms of the federal government. Scalise said he had been doing some work by phone, but it was “a lot nicer” doing it in person. The lawmaker returned to the U.S. Capitol earlier this month after receiving the cancer diagnosis.
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