Republican congressman has 'medical emergency' near House floor

The U.S. Capitol.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

John Rutherford, a 64-year-old freshman congressman from Florida, was taken out of the Capitol on a stretcher Wednesday.

Rutherford was on the House floor for a vote on an amendment to the Regulatory Accountability Act, but was absent for the next 10 House votes, WOKV reports. The station says he was in the Republican cloakroom off the House floor when he suffered a "medical emergency." Rutherford's chief of staff, Kelly Simpson, said he did not have a heart attack and is "conscious, alert, and in good spirits."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.