Pastime | Episode
Pastime

The Mitch McConnell mystery

Today, Explained | Jul 14 2026 | 00:25:50

You'd probably get fired for not showing up to work for a month — unless you're a member of Congress.

This episode was produced by Peter Balonon-Rosen and Ariana Aspuru with help from Denise Guerra, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao, in a photograph released by his office.

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