Alabama House Speaker Mac McCutcheon announced today that he has been hospitalized in Huntsville with a heart issue and expects to be released following treatment over the weekend.

On Thursday, McCutcheon suffered mild chest pains and shortness of breath while returning from the legislative orientation session in Montgomery to his home in Madison County.

McCutcheon was driven to the emergency room. After initial tests, his doctor recommended a heart catheterization. It showed that a blood vessel had closed but did not require a stent and could be treated with medication.

“Deb and I appreciate the prayers of healing that so many have made on my behalf, and I am well on the road to recovery,” McCutcheon said in a press release.

The speaker said that during his recovery he would continue work on House committee assignments and other legislative issues in preparation for the upcoming organizational and regular sessions of the Alabama Legislature.

The organizational session starts Jan. 8, and the regular session begins March 5.

During the 2014 legislative session, McCutcheon underwent heart bypass surgery and returned to work before the session’s end.

McCutcheon has been speaker since August 2016, when he replaced Mike Hubbard after Hubbard was removed from office because of an ethics conviction. Last month the House Republican caucus picked McCutcheon, a retired police officer, to remain speaker during the new legislative term.

Edited at 2 p.m. to say that McCutcheon is in Huntsville.