Congress unites in an all-too-rare display of togetherness to welcome back Rep. Steve Scalise

The congressman made his return after sustaining serious injuries in the June 2017 shooting.
 By 
Marcus Gilmer
 on 
Congress unites in an all-too-rare display of togetherness to welcome back Rep. Steve Scalise
Rep. Steve Scalise is back on the hill after the shooting in June Credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock

America in 2017 is all about division, thanks in large part to President Trump, the long fight over healthcare, and neo-Nazis marching in the streets of Charlottesville, among others.

That's why Rep. Steve Scalise's (R-LA) return to the U.S. House chamber Thursday was such a warm moment of unity that we so badly needed.

Scalise was seriously wounded in June when an Illinois man opened fire on a group of GOP congressmen who were practicing before the annual Congressional Baseball Game.

Scalise suffered extensive injuries that he detailed in a new 60 Minutes interview, including injuries to his hip and pelvis. In an excerpt of that interview, Scalise said of the doctors, "They did a phenomenal job of rebuilding, you know, kind of the, rebuilding Humpty Dumpty."

Scalise first teased his return Thursday morning on Twitter.

Walking with the assistance of a cane, Scalise made a dramatic return to the Chamber on Thursday and was met with a raucous, bipartisan pair of standing ovations.

Speaking to the Chamber, Scalise showered family and first responders with gratitude, and said of his return, “I’m definitely a living example that miracles really do happen.”

His colleagues on both sides of the aisle were eager to welcome him back.

It's an all-too-rare moment of unity in Congress that can warm the heart and make you think, "Maybe, just maybe, they'll get their shit together for once." If they can put aside their differences for Scalise (a Congressman who faced controversy a few years back for speaking to a white supremacy group in New Orleans), maybe everything will be okay.

But, rest assured, the feeling will fade quickly as we delve once more into the typical partisan wrangling that so well defines our congress and, on a larger scale, our society, in the Year of Our Trump 2017.

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Marcus Gilmer

Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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