Mitch McConnell's prolonged disappearance from public life in Washington has triggered fresh demands from Republicans for term limits and new rules to deal with incapacitated members of Congress, 39 days after the 84-year-old Senate leader was rushed to the hospital in the US capital.
McConnell, the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, effectively vanished from view following a medical emergency on 14 June. Since then, his absence has coincided with a swirl of rumours, a conspicuous silence from his staff and the re-emergence of a question Washington has repeatedly ducked: what happens when an elected lawmaker is no longer able to do the job, but will not or cannot step aside?
