Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) sustained an injury while doing yard work over the weekend that required immediate surgery and could require the amputation of the end of his right pinky finger.
Cramer shared the medical update in a statement from his office on Wednesday.
“While working in the yard over the weekend, I sustained a serious injury to my right hand, which required immediate surgery,” Cramer’s statement read.
“I continue to remain in North Dakota close to medical care as there is high risk of infection and the possible need for amputation,” it added.
A statement on my recent injury ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/tIEuPO9LJP
— Sen. Kevin Cramer (@SenKevinCramer) June 22, 2022
Cramer’s statement said he would miss this week’s Senate business, though he plans to return to Washington D.C. after the July 4th break.
“The senator, who is right-handed, said the injury could affect his typing ability, but he doesn’t expect it to be a major hindrance in his work,” InForum added.
The senator has served in his role since 2019 after defeating Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. Any extended delay of Cramer’s return to the Senate could be significant as Republicans and Democrats remain evenly split in the 50-50 chamber, with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker.
Cramer, a ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, most recently released a statement blasting President Joe Biden’s upcoming request to Congress to suspend the nation’s gas tax.
“When gas is $5 a gallon, the American people aren’t asking for 18 cents of relief, they want the Trump energy policies back! Suspending the gas tax is nothing more than a knee-jerk political stunt providing minimal relief while blowing a hole in our infrastructure funding,” the senator said in a statement.
“Lest we forget, President Obama called this idea a ‘gimmick.’ Asking Congress to suspend the 18-cent-per-gallon gas tax is a feckless motion to Americans paying $5 at the pump to drive to work and take their long-delayed vacations,” he added.
Cramer concluded his statement by challenging the Biden administration to change its energy policies.
“If the Biden Administration is serious about combating inflation and lowering gas prices, they need to take a complete 180 on their energy policies and pro-regulation agenda,” the senator wrote.
On Tuesday, Cramer also led in sending a letter alongside GOP colleagues to express concern over the Biden administration’s tariff moratorium on imported solar panels. The letter claimed the move increases dependence on China and undermines an ongoing investigation into Chinese solar companies.
“Already the United States is over-reliant on China for solar power. Currently, 80 percent of our solar panels come from China or Chinese companies, and this reliance is not market-based. China has used a variety of anti-free market practices, such as industrial subsidies, to come to dominate the solar sector,” the Republican senators wrote.
The lawmakers concluded that “we are disappointed that the climate change agenda has proven to be an effective means to pre-empt and nullify the legitimate claims of U.S. workers and industry before they can be fully considered through the ongoing investigation by your Department of Commerce. To honor those claims, we urge you to end the self-imposed emergency declaration and let the Commerce Department investigation proceed unimpeded so as not to further increase our economic reliance on China.”
Update: Additional details regarding the senator’s injury were added after a response from his office.