A heavily bandaged Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he was happy to return to the Senate floor for the first time since suffering an exercising accident that injured his right eye — but it didn’t stop him from immediately waging battle against the new Republican majority.

Reid, who returns for the first time as the minority leader in the Senate, had a large bandage over his right eye as he took to the floor to challenge Republicans for tweaking the homeland security bill, according to a CBS News report.

Reid argued that the bill should be passed with “no strings attached to it,” and that things were being placed in it that have “nothing to do with homeland security,” according to the report.

Republicans want to use the funding bill to roll back executive actions by the Obama administration on immigration, which Democrats are fighting. The debate has stalled the funding bill, and if Congress can’t agree on it by Feb. 27, the agency will run otu of money for core operations.

Reid pointed to terrorist attacks around the globe as a reason to move forward quickly with funding the homeland security bill.

Reid, who is 75 years old, had an exercising accident last month that injured his right eye when the equipment he was using broke at his home in Nevada on New Years Day. He fell, breaking four ribs and several bones near his eye. He underwent surgery last week to recover vision in that eye.