Sometimes when Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman hears voices, they sound like the adults in the animated “Peanuts” cartoons, which used a muted trombone to give them indecipherable speech.
The New York Times on Friday reported on Fetterman’s efforts to adjust to life in the Senate as he continues to recover from his stroke in May.
The report comes after the Pennsylvania Democrat spent his second night at George Washington University Hospital and checked in on Wednesday after feeling light-headed at a Democrat retreat in Washington, DC
Fetterman was discharged from the hospital on Friday, and according to his office, “His EEG test results came back to normal with no evidence of seizures.”
The 6ft 8in tattooed Democratic politician is expected to return to the Senate on Monday.
Senator John Fetterman arrives at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. Fetterman spent Wednesday and Thursday nights in the hospital after feeling groggy at an event in DC on Wednesday
On Friday, The New York Times ran a report on Fetterman’s stroke recovery, which included the tidbit that the Pennsylvania Democrats are hearing voices like the adults in the animated Peanuts cartoons — a muffled trumpet in which the language is undecipherable
Fetterman didn’t speak to The Times, but advisors and allies told the paper his entry into the Senate was a difficult time, particularly because he still struggles with auditory processing issues.
That means he has to use a transcription tablet to engage in conversations.
Last week, Time Magazine reported on the housing the Senate has given him so far, including installing a monitor on Fetterman’s desk in the Senate chamber that provides live captions and equips him with a wireless tablet for committee hearings.
The Times reported that Fetterman’s hearing problems are patchy and often worsen when he is in a stressful situation.
His speech also remains choppy and muddled, as shown when he asked questions on the Senate Agriculture, Food and Forestry Committee at his first hearing as a senator.
Despite this, his office sent out video clips of the back and forth.
Fetterman won his race, easily the most watched in the country, against Trump-backed television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz by five points, despite the full impact of his stroke during the candidates’ debate in mid-October.
Colleagues took it easy.
“We’re going to have to learn our own style with it,” Senator Amy Klobuchar told The Times.
She said she recently experimented with speaking into Fetterman’s tablet to give him captions of their conversation.
“What I said was correct, even if I spoke quickly,” she said. ‘I wanted to make sure it was true. It was kind of hard to imagine what it would be like to be him.’
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez, a Washington Democrat, told the paper that she approached Fetterman at White House receptions for new members of Congress, and they had a back-and-forth over her choice of dress.
Fetterman, usually in shorts and a hoodie, wore a suit while Pérez opted for boots, jeans and a Carhartt jacket.
“I thought I had an ally here,” she remarked. “He said, ‘Why can she wear jeans and I can’t?'”
Pérez said that Fetterman’s tablet allowed them to converse with ease.
“It’s just a little delay,” she told the Times. “I didn’t realize at first that he was using it. Then I thought, ‘Why are they holding it?’ It took me a minute to figure out what was going on.’
But while he’s engaged with his colleagues, Fetterman hasn’t spoken to the many Capitol Hill reporters who haunt the hallways due to his auditory processing issues.
A staffer told Time Magazine that volunteers are working on housing so the Pennsylvania Democrat can participate in these impromptu interviews.
“Before the stroke, he was the kind of person who loved giving and taking with reporters,” said Adam Jentleson, Fetterman’s chief of staff. “The challenge is being able to return to this place given the current restrictions.”