Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) says the media is trying to “smear” him over missing votes and committee hearings in the Senate, firing back at an editorial in The Philadelphia Inquirer that argued Fetterman needs to put more effort into his job or resign from Congress.
Asked about the harsh op-ed during a debate in Boston on Monday, Fetterman called it a “weird smear.”
“It’s just part of like this weird this weird smear,” Fetterman told “Fox News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream, who moderated a debate between the Pennsylvania Democrat and Sen. David McCormick (R-Pa.) at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.
“The more kinds of left kind of media continues to have these kinds of an attack,” Fetterman said. “And it’s just part of a smear and that’s just not … it’s just not accurate.
“And we’ve moved on and why we’re still having this conversation why at this point?” he asked.
The debate was co-hosted by the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation and aired on Fox Nation.
The Inquirer noted in its critical appraisal of Fetterman’s track record that he has missed more votes than nearly every other senator in the past two years and regularly skips committee hearings, cancels meetings and avoids Democratic caucus lunches.
The editorial observed that six former Fetterman staffers told an Inquirer reporter that Fetterman was frequently absent or spent hours alone in his office, avoiding colleagues and meetings.
“If Fetterman can’t handle the attention or perform his job, then in the best interest of the country and the nearly 13 million residents of Pennsylvania he represents, he should step aside,” the paper argued. “Being an elected representative is a privilege, not an entitlement. Being a U.S. senator is a serious job that requires full-time engagement.”
Fetterman defended his missed votes as the result of a conscious choice to spend more time with his family, and he previously dismissed Monday afternoon “bed-check” votes as procedural minutia that don’t necessarily require his participation.
“If I miss some of those … votes, I’ve made 90 percent of them, and we all know those votes that I’ve missed were on Monday. Those are travel days,” he said.
“And I have three young kids and … those are throwaway procedural votes that they were never determined if … they were important. That’s a choice that I made,” he added.
Fetterman pointed out that Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have also missed multiple Senate votes in recent months as Sanders has traveled the country rallying opposition to President Trump’s agenda and Murray traveled home to care for her husband while he was in the hospital.
“If you want to attack me for that, go ahead,” he said of his attendance record. “But I’d like to point out that, you know, Bernie and Sen. Murray missed more.”
“So why aren’t the left media yelling and demanding them and claiming they’re not doing their job and those kind of thing[s]? Just be genuine on that,” he said.
A spokesperson for Murray said many of the Washington senator’s “missed votes were during a single evening of votes” when the Senate held a long vote-a-rama.
“Senator Murray was caring for her husband while he was in the hospital and was prepared to return to the floor if her vote might have been determinative,” the spokesperson said.
She missed 32 votes in one week because of time spent caring for her husband.
Fetterman has come under intense scrutiny since New York Magazine published a long article about his former staff members’ concerns about what they viewed as erratic and potentially dangerous behavior.
According to New York Magazine, the senator’s former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, wrote a 1,600-word email to Fetterman’s doctor at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center warning that “John is on a bad trajectory and I’m really worried about him.”
The former staffer said he was concerned that Fetterman won’t be “with us for much longer.”
Fetterman said last month that former employees who have expressed their concern about his behavior to the media have a “bizarre grudge” against him.
