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Suspicions continue as Fetterman co-sponsors bill while hospitalized in a ‘very unusual’ move

March 3, 2023 | | Print Article

Senator John Fetterman remains locked down in the hospital as questions swirl about whether the newly elected Pennsylvania Democrat will be able to fulfill his duties in the rigorous job as he continues to suffer problems as a result of his poor health, and his co-sponsoring of legislation this week has added to the mystery.

While Fetterman has been incommunicado since he checked into Walter Reed Army Medical Center in mid-February where he has been receiving treatment for depression, his name appeared on a bill to enhance railroad safety after the environmental catastrophe following the derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border last month.

The bill, S.576, was sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and in addition to the missing Fetterman, also drew the support of Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)

Some have found Fetterman’s name on the bill to be curious given his condition and that he has yet to appear publicly since his hospitalization, with the American people having to rely on press statements from his team as their only insight into his condition.

One who finds it “very unusual” for Fetterman to be working from the hospital given his mental issues is Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox News contributor and medical professor at New York University who said that what “we don’t know” is how “severe” the 53-year-old’s condition is, the type of therapy that he’s receiving and how he is responding.

According to Dr. Siegel, “mental illness and physical illness aren’t the same in terms of the level of impairment.”

“So if you were to say to me, somebody had a heart attack, they’re still in the hospital, can they be a senator? You know, my answer would be, depends on how their heart is doing right now,” Siegel told Fox News Digital.

“And, in general, the answer would be no. That if you’re in the hospital for severe depression, that your judgment is impaired, and that your ability to think clearly and rationally is impaired,” Siegel continued. “But we don’t know that.”

He said that he would like “to know what his psychiatrists think” about Fetterman’s recovery while noting that it’s “very unusual that somebody that’s being admitted for severe depression would be performing their job.”

“That’s very unusual,” Siegel added. “Let alone as a senator.”

Fetterman was joined on the Democrat Senate disabled list by Sen. Dianne Feinstein after the 89-year-old – who has also faced questions on her declining health – was hospitalized in San Francisco where she is being treated for shingles.

“I was diagnosed over the February recess with a case of the shingles. I have been hospitalized and am receiving treatment in San Francisco and expect to make a full recovery. I hope to return to the Senate later this month,” Feinstein said through her spokesperson.

(Video: YouTube/ABC7 News Bay Area)

Feinstein missed the vote where the Senate voted 50-46 to block a Biden regime rule that allowed fund managers to use environmental, social and governance (ESG) as criteria when deciding how to invest other people’s retirement money. She also missed out on a pair of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.

With both Democrats sidelined, the party’s ability to advance their extremist agenda in an upper chamber that they narrowly control could be imperiled.

Fetterman’s mysterious co-sponsoring of the Senate bill is drawing scrutiny from Twitter users who are expressing skepticism that the hulking, tattooed everyman signed off on anything.

https://twitter.com/PamelaHensley22/status/1631421202135646208?s=20

“If you broke your ankle, you know, nobody would think twice. Okay, he’s got surgery on his ankle and he’s recovering, but he’s performing from the bed,” Dr. Siegel said. “But mental illness, by definition, is an impairment of mood and judgment. So it would be highly, highly unlikely that somebody could do that, unless they’re just keeping them there to kind of keep them out of the way of the stress of daily living, but they feel that he’s up to the job.”

“Again, highly unusual,” he told Fox News Digital, adding that he is “very surprised” that Fetterman is continuing to work as a senator, including joining caucuses and co-sponsoring bills, adding that he “would be very disturbed and concerned about the idea of him performing the job of senator while receiving intensive treatment for severe depression.”

“Those two don’t go together,” he said. “If, however, he’s responded to treatment for severe depression and they’re just keeping an eye on him for a few days, that is more reasonable.”

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Chris Donaldson
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