WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas has checked himself into Walter Reed Army Medical Center for what his spokeswoman described as a routine procedure.

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Spokeswoman Marion Watkins says the 89-year-old Dole is "doing very well" and is expected to leave the hospital Wednesday.

Dole's name drew mention as the Senate on Tuesday debated a U.N. treaty promoting equal rights for the disabled. Dole overcame disabling war wounds to forge a 36-year political career. In the early 1990s, he underwent successful surgery for prostate cancer and in 2001 he had surgery to treat an aneurysm.

Dole spent 10 months at Walter Reed in 2010 after suffering pneumonia following knee surgery.

He was the Republican nominee for president in 1996, losing to Bill Clinton.