Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw returned to committee duties on Thursday for the first time since he underwent emergency surgery on his left eye.
Crenshaw appeared at an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2022 budget. “Good to be back with y’all. I still can’t see y’all, so it’ll be a few more weeks until that hopefully happens.”
“I’m doing well. You don’t need to feel bad for me. We raise our right hand, and then we ask to go to war, and sometimes this is what happens. But I hope to be back to normal within a couple of months. But for now, even a blind knuckle-dragger can do a hearing, so here I am. Let’s get to work,” he said.
A retired Navy SEAL, Crenshaw lost his right eye and sustained serious damage to his left in a 2012 IED explosion in Afghanistan. He underwent surgery on April 9 after the retina in his left eye began to detach. “I don’t have a ‘good eye,’ but half a good eye,” he said at the time. (RELATED: Dan Crenshaw Makes ‘SNL’ Appearance, Accepts Apology From Pete Davidson)
Doctors inserted a gas bubble into Crenshaw’s left eye to stabilize the retina, but he remains blind in that eye due to the procedure.
Crenshaw released an update on April 24 explaining that the surgery was successful and that he could stand upright after previously having to lie down to keep the gas bubble in place.