Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican congressman who was seriously injured during a shooting at a GOP congressional baseball practice in June, returned to the House of Representatives on Thursday.
"You have no idea how do this feels, to be back at work in the people’s House. I’m definitely a living example that miracles really do happen," Scalise said to the assembled chamber, which broke into thunderous applause as he arrived.
Earlier in the day, he tweeted that he was returning to the House in a tweet simply worded, "I'm back."
I’m back. pic.twitter.com/vuqYQorM6U
— Rep. Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) September 28, 2017
After thanking a number of people for offering their support, Scalise singled out one of the Capitol Hill police officers from his security detail, David Bailey, who was present.
"You are my hero. You saved my life," Scalise told Bailey.
House Speaker Paul Ryan also expressed gratitude that Scalise has been able to return.
"Our prayers have been answered. America is grateful for this moment," Ryan said.
In an interview for "60 Minutes" that will be broadcast on Thursday, Scalise described the extensive surgery that was needed to reconstruct his pelvis after the injury as being a bit like "rebuilding Humpty Dumpty."
"I found out later just how much damage was done internally," Scalise told Norah O'Donnell. "You know, I mean, my femur was shattered. The hip and pelvis had serious damage where the bullet went through and, you know, did some damage to areas that had to be shored up with steel plates and then they did a phenomenal job of rebuilding, you know, kind of the, rebuilding Humpty Dumpty. I mean, there were, there was a lot of damage inside that had to get fixed."
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