Ryan: Scalise is ‘gonna walk again’

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Monday that House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who was gravely wounded in a shooting this summer, will walk again.

“He’s gonna walk, but he’s gonna have to re-learn how to do it,” Ryan said during a CNN town hall in Racine, Wis., after Scalise joined a conference call with his GOP colleagues earlier in the day.

“He sounded great. He sounded strong. He sounded like Steve-o.”

{mosads}Ryan described the recess conference call as “really emotional” for lawmakers. The Speaker has visited Scalise in the hospital countless times, but most of his colleagues have not heard or seen him since a gunman opened fire on a congressional baseball practice on June 15 in Alexandria, Va., injuring Scalise and several others.

Scalise, the No. 3 House GOP leader and his party’s top vote-counter, is out of the hospital but continuing to recover in a rehabilitation facility.

“He’s going to be OK … but he’s got a long road ahead of him,” Ryan said. “He’s very strong and sound of mind and his body is healing.

“It was very cathartic for all of us, and our members were really, really relieved to hear his voice.”