Tom Kean will return to Congress on June 30

Rep. Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) will return to Washington in less than two weeks, marking the end of an extended leave as he recovered from a personal health issue.

“The congressman will be back for votes on June 30,” his political advisor, Harrison Neely, told the New Jersey Globe.

The House was out of session this week and is scheduled to return for votes on June 23. That is expected to give Kean three days of votes before the House takes a week off for the 4th of July.

The two-term Republican, who is locked in a hugely competitive re-election campaign against Democrat Rebecca Bennett in New Jersey’s 7th district, has promised to fully disclose the details of the health issue that has caused his absence once he returns.  He and his staff have not commented on any details so far.

Kean told the New Jersey Globe in a telephone interview on May 21 that he was nearing a full recovery and confirmed his plans to seek re-election.  But on June 2, he issued a statement pushing that back by a few more weeks.

He confirmed to the New Jersey Globe that his issues are not chronic and that whatever illness he has will not affect his cognitive skills.

Kean last voted on March 5 and has since missed 135 votes.  The New Jersey Globe first reported on his absence on March 20 – his office said at the time that he’d be back “soon,” a word that his staffers have repeated in nearly every public statement since then – and it became a national news story in mid-April.