Three Months After Shooting, Steve Scalise Makes Emotional Return to House

WASHINGTON — Walking gingerly and on two canes, Representative Steve Scalise, the Republican whip, made an emotional return to the Capitol on Thursday, more than three months after a gunman nearly took his lifeduring practice for a charity baseball game.

“It shows you if you fight and persevere, you can overcome anything,” Mr. Scalise told reporters as he entered the House chamber to thundering applause from his colleagues, who were awaiting his return. He then delivered his first remarks on the House floor since the shooting on June 14.

Mr. Scalise, his voice strong, said he wanted to “thank true angels across the way” — the Capitol Police officers who were wounded and fired the shots that are credited with preventing the gunman from harming anyone else; a fellow lawmaker who rushed to his aid and applied a tourniquet to his wound; and his doctors, who were seated in the House gallery.

“You are my hero — you saved my life,” he told one of the officers, David Bailey, who was also in the gallery. The other officer, Crystal Griner, was not present.

A man of deep Christian faith, Mr. Scalise repeatedly thanked God for his recovery, and he spoke of how he prayed during the chaotic, terrifying moments after the gunman had wounded him.