House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who had called into a deputy whip meeting just before members left for recess, thanked members for their prayers. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Injured Scalise makes surprise call to GOP colleagues

Injured House Majority Whip Steve Scalise surprised Republicans on Monday by phoning in to a GOP conference call from the hospital and updating lawmakers on the whip process for an upcoming spending bill.

The call showed that the Louisiana Republican, who was hospitalized for weeks after being shot during a congressional baseball practice in mid-June, is recovering and starting to turn his attention toward returning to work. Sources close with Scalise say he’s eager to rejoin his fellow lawmakers on Capitol Hill, though he told Republicans on the call that he did not yet have a discharge date from rehab.


A Scalise aide confirmed the call.

Scalise "made it clear that he is focused on his inpatient rehabilitation, and that the timing of his return to work will be based on his doctors' advice, and has not yet been determined,” the aide said.

Scalise suffered from severe blood loss when a single assault rifle bullet pierced his hip and traveled all the way across his pelvis, which fragmented into hundreds of pieces. A lone gunman targeting Republicans had showed up to a congressional baseball practice, where Scalise and more than a dozen GOP lawmakers were readying for the annual, friendly Republicans-versus-Democrats game.

Scalise, the only lawmaker who was shot, was airlifted and remained in critical condition for weeks at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Doctors said he was lucky to be alive. Even after he was upgraded to “stable” and “fair” condition, Scalise had a slight setback from infection in his wound — a problem doctors had been awaiting and expecting.

Since then, Scalise was released from the intensive care unit and transferred to a rehab facility on hospital grounds to relearn how to walk and strengthen his leg.

Sources on the call said Scalise sounded well on the phone. He opened discussions about a series of appropriations bills that House Republicans plan to pass upon returning from August recess after Labor Day. After he spoke, House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen and subcommittee chairmen went into more detail on the bills.

The appropriations measures will likely include dozens of poison-pill votes on policy riders likely to make some moderates squirm. In July, the leadership whip team was unable to persuade enough skeptical members to back the package. Without the votes, they pushed consideration into the fall, but many believe they’ll have the votes this go-round.

Scalise said he and the leadership team would be continuing to educate the conference about on what’s in the bills while members are away in their home districts.

Scalise, who had called into a deputy whip meeting just before members left for recess, also thanked members for their prayers. He put in a kind word for his chief deputy whip, Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), for filling in while he’s been gone. And he applauded the deputy whips who helped McHenry count votes in his absence.