Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) left Walter Reed Medical Center this weekend after six weeks of inpatient treatment for clinical depression.
“I am so happy to be home. I’m excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves,” Fetterman tweeted. “Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs.”
Fetterman’s office said in a statement that he’s back home in Braddock, Pennsylvania and that his depression is in “remission” after having been treated with medication.
Further, Fetterman is wearing hearing aids for hearing loss, according to his office’s statement. The 53-year-old freshman Senator suffered a stroke amid the 2022 campaign season last May.
Depression after a stroke is not uncommon and doctors say it is treatable through medication and talk therapy. Fetterman was barley a month into the Congressional term before he checked in to Walter Reed on the advice of Capitol physician, Dr. Brian P. Monahan.
Fetterman spoke about his battle with depression in an interview on CBS’ Sunday Morning. “I never had any self-harm, but I was indifferent, though,” he said. “If the doctor said, ‘Gee, you have 18 months to live,’ I’d be like, ‘Yeah. Okay, well, that’s how things go.'”
He noted that the day he agreed to be hospitalized was his son’s birthday. He says now his “aspiration” is “being the kind of dad, the kind of husband, and the kind of senator that Pennsylvania deserves.”
Fetterman’s absence from Capitol Hill has impacted the razor-thin 51-49 Democratic-Republican split in the Senate. He was the youngest of several Senators who’ve taken medical leaves of absence, including 89-year-old Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who is recovering at home after briefly being hospitalized for shingles earlier this month, and 81-year-old Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was discharged from the hospital and has moved to a rehabilitation center after suffering a concussion during a fall this month as well.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who’s 78, also spent about a week quarantining at home this month after being diagnosed with Covid.
The absences have forced Vice President Harris to have to break several ties in the Democrats’ favor over the past several weeks.
Fetterman is set to return to the Senate the week of April 17, after the Passover and Easter holidays.
