Thurmond moves into hospital for 'monitoring'

Strom Thurmond

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Strom Thurmond, the Senate's oldest and longest serving member, has temporarily moved into Walter Reed Army Medical Center but will continue to come to work in the Senate each day, according to the South Carolina Republican's spokeswoman.

"He can come and go and have visitors as he pleases," Rebecca Fleming told CNN. "This is more of a medical monitoring situation than one of medical treatment."

Fleming said that Thurmond decided to make the move over the weekend but said the senator is "not ill" and there is no marked change in his health.

"He is 98 years old," she said, noting that he was at work Tuesday and plans to be there Wednesday.

Thurmond's 99th birthday is December 5.

Thurmond had been hospitalized on numerous occasions in recent months for a variety of low-level but persistent ailments, including stomach upset, back pain, dehydration and exhaustion. Despite the illnesses, he has always managed to return to the Senate a scant few days after being hospitalized.

He was last hospitalized October 2 after taking ill on the Senate floor, but he returned to work the following day.

Thurmond was first elected senator in 1954, but has held public office since the late 1920s -- save for the years he served in the U.S. military during the World War II. He reached the Senate as a write-in candidate.

He is best known for his longevity in public office and his once-fiery opposition to civil rights -- a stance he abandoned, like many one-time supporters of segregation, in later years.

Thurmond plans to serve out the remaining two years of his term, retiring when he reaches 100.