Recent reports indicate that sources close to Sen. John Fetterman claim his less-than-professional wardrobe choices are a sign of his continual recovery. Those familiar with the senator insinuated that Fetterman’s typical outfit consisting of “hoodies and gym shorts” is a “sign that the senator is making a robust recovery,” according to a story from the Associated Press.
The AP reported:
Male senators are expected to wear a jacket and tie on the Senate floor, but Fetterman has a workaround. He votes from the doorway of the Democratic cloakroom or the side entrance, making sure his “yay” or “nay” is recorded before ducking back out. In between votes this past week, Fetterman’s hoodie stayed on for a news conference with four Democratic colleagues in suits, the 6-foot-8 Fetterman towering over his colleagues.
People close to Fetterman say his relaxed, comfortable style is a sign that the senator is making a robust recovery after six weeks of inpatient treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where his clinical depression was treated with medication and he was fitted for hearing aids for hearing loss that had made it harder for him to communicate. His hospitalization came less than a year after he had a stroke during his Senate campaign that he has said nearly killed him, and from which he continues to recover.
Vermont Sen. Peter Welch joked about Fetterman’s overly casual appearance, “He’s setting a new dress code. He was struggling. And now he’s a joyful person to be around.” Fetterman is regularly browsing the Capitol in baggy athletic shorts and a Carhart jacket. Despite his staff even requesting that he wear a suit in certain settings, the senator insists on maintaining his informal look.
Fetterman had had to also communicate via a closed captioning device due to a hearing disability from a stroke he suffered in 2022. Fox News reported on Fetterman’s disability:
The senator, who is in the hospital after experiencing lightheadedness Wednesday, has also struggled to adjust to life in the Senate, given the challenges of recovering from his stroke and the need for technological tools to help him conduct conversations with staff and colleagues.
Fetterman has to carry around a closed captioning device that types out what is being said to him so that he can have conversations, since he cannot fully understand the spoken word on his own.
Before moving to Washington, D.C., Fetterman’s office was equipped with closed captioning tablets. There are now wired screens in the Senate chamber where closed-captions are typed out for him by professional broadcast captioners.
Fetterman has also demonstrated difficulty speaking, where his staff often have to doctor and correct his quotes when they provide them to the press. “The Republicans want to give a work requirement for SNAP,” Fetterman said. “You know, for a uh, uh, uh, a hungry family has to have these, this kind of penalties, or these some kinds of word — working uh, require — Shouldn’t you have a working requirement, after we sail your bank, billions of your bank? Because you seem we were preoccupied, uh when, then SNAP requirements for works, for hungry people, but not about protecting the tax, the tax papers, you know, that will bail them out of whatever does about a bank to crash it.”
The official quote that Fetterman’s office provided to the Washington Post was much more coherent. “Shouldn’t you have a working requirement after we bail out your bank? Republicans seem to be more preoccupied with SNAP requirements for hungry people than protecting taxpayers that have to bail out these banks.”
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