Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman missed an alarming percentage of roll call votes due to illness
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman has missed nearly 83% of Senate roll call votes since going to the hospital to receive treatment for clinical depression last month.
According to government watchdog GovTrack, Fetterman missed 53 of 64 Senate roll-call votes held in February and March. His average falls well past the lifetime record for missed votes for all current senators, which stands at 2.3%.
Wednesday will mark six weeks since Fetterman first checked in at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on the night of Feb. 15, and there’s still no clear indication as to when he might return to work. His office has provided periodic updates, including that he is progressing towards his recovery, as well as he has been able to continue working from the hospital.
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On March 6, Fetterman’s chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, tweeted that the senator “will be back soon” and included photos of the two sitting together working from a table at the hospital.
Last week, Fetterman’s communications director, Joe Calvello, also said the senator would be back “soon,” but didn’t provide further details on when it would be “at least longer.” ‘one week”.
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Fetterman’s office did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment specifically regarding the day-to-day running of the office in his absence, but his staff reportedly filled in the gaps wherever necessary in order to keep the office running.
Jentleson told the Pennsylvania Capital-Star earlier this month that staff would likely do the same amount of work even if Fetterman was physically present in the office, and boasted that between a third and half of the staff were experts in policy.
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John Fetterman, then a Democratic Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, takes part in a debate with his GOP challenger, Dr. Mehmet Oz, October 25 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
He also noted in the report that Fetterman “will definitely miss votes” given his condition, but that it was a “pretty good time” out of any other time of the calendar year to miss due to the lack of legislation. important.
Votes missed by Fetterman include a number of judicial and other appointments, as well as a bipartisan bill to overturn a new Labor Department rule encouraging pension trustees to consider environmental, social and governance issues. (ESG) in their investments.
Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report.
