Voices: What John Fetterman’s hospitalisation means for the Senate

On Thursday evening, after the Senate had finished its business, Senator John Fetterman, the newly elected Democrat from Pennsylvania, announced that he checked himself into Walter Reed Medical Center to treat “clinical depression.”

The announcement came after Mr Fetterman went to George Washington University’s hospital last week after he experienced light-headedness. Last year, Mr Fetterman experienced a severe stroke shortly before the Senate primary. But despite concerns about his debate performance, he still defeated Republican candidate and television host Mehmet Oz in the November midterms by a wider margin than President Joe Biden’s victory in the state two years earlier.

Since then, Mr Fetterman has used a tablet that enables speech-to-text so that he can understand what people are telling him since he still has trouble with processing words. On the Hill, he can often be seen with aides who carry his tablet with him.

Mr Fetterman’s latest announcement led to an outpouring of support from everyone from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to Senator Kyrsten Sinema – the independent from Arizona who defected from the Democratic Party – to Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Though not everyone was as gracious: Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who narrowly won re-election, told Newsmax: “I pray for his full and speedy recovery”, adding: “I can't quite explain the voters of Pennsylvania, I just can’t, if for no other reason (than) his stance on the issues.”

The news also came the same week that Democratic Senator Bob Casey, Pennsylvania’s senior senator, underwent surgery for prostate cancer. And the Senate had one of its businest weeks so far, holding the 100th judicial confirmation vote of Joe Biden’s presidency (though Mr Biden nominated some to lower courts before promoting them, as was the case with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson).

The Senate is currently in recess until 27 February and it is unclear when Mr Casey will return to work. A Fetterman aide told Dasha Burns of NBC News that he will be hospitalised for “a few weeks”. That could complicate Democrats’ Senate agenda if their absences persist.

Given that Republicans control the House of Representatives now, judicial confirmations will take up a large part of the Senate voting calendar. Judicial nominees also matter to a majority party because, eventually, those judges can move up the rungs to become a Supreme Court justice if an opening on the high court presents itself.

Mr Fetterman’s victory proved instrumental to Democrats’ progress with judicial nominations, because now Democrats no longer have to deal with a 50-50 Senate and have an extra member on the Judiciary Committee, meaning they don’t need to pick off a Republican to clear confirmations. It also frees up Vice President Kamala Harris, who frequently had to break ties in a split Senate.

“Hardworking Judiciary Committee and good nominees,” Senate Majority Whip and Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin said when asked how the Senate clocked in 100 judicial confirmations.

At the end of the day, Mr Fetterman’s biggest concern is doing the necessary work to recover. In the past, mental illness once killed political careers, as was the case when George McGovern dropped Tom Eagleton as his running mate in 1972 over revelations that Mr Eagleton received electroshock therapy to treat depression. Today, especially following the Coronavirus crisis, society is much more accepting of public officials discussing mental illness.

Furthermore, plenty of elected officials – from Bob Dole to Senator Tammy Duckworth – have taken their illness and disability and used it as a launching pad to have larger discussions and enact policy that benefits those who are not in the public eye. It is entirely likely Mr Fetterman can do the same.