“John Fetterman Returns to Senate in Hoodie and Shorts, Expressing Delight in Being Back”

It’s “great,” said John Fetterman, to be back on Capitol Hill Monday after spending nearly two months at Walter Reed Army Hospital being treated for clinical depression.

The Democratic senator from Pennsylvania wore his shorts and hood as he walked the Capitol building.

“It’s great to be back,” he told reporters.

He waved to the waiting crowd but did not answer any questions.

Fetterman was released from the hospital at the end of March but returned home to Penn State as the Senate was on spring break for two weeks.

Almost all lawmakers will be back on Monday, including Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who was knocked out after hitting his head in a fall. The notable exception is Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who remains in California where she’s spent the past two months recovering from shingles. You didn’t say when you’d be back.

Fetterman will get the right to work. Senators vote Monday night. On Wednesday, the senator will preside over the first hearing, a subcommittee hearing of the Committee on Agriculture.

“Sen. Fetterman on Wednesday will chair the first subcommittee hearing in the Subcommittee on Food, Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Foods and Research for a hearing that will focus specifically on SNAP and the critical help it provides to working families through the upcoming Farm Bill,” his office said in a statement.

Federal farm programs expire on Sept. 30, and the House and Senate Agriculture Committees have begun working on legislation to renew them.

The senator worked on this issue in Pennsylvania last week. He met farmers from Beaver and Lawrence counties and toured a dairy farm in the Enon Valley that dates back to the time of the American Revolution.

He posted pictures of his meetings on his social networking sites.

“It’s great to be back,” said Senator Fetterman.

Fetterman will preside over the committee’s first hearing on Wednesday

Fetterman last voted in the Senate on February 15.

He walked into Walter Reed that day after weeks of withdrawal from what his aides described as Fetterman and his lack of interest in eating, discussing work or the usual banter with staff.

At the time, Fetterman had barely spent a month serving in Washington and was still recovering from the effects of a stroke he had suffered the previous May. He went to Walter Reed on the advice of the Capitol physician, Dr. Brian B. Monahan.

During his stay, his staff confirmed that he was working, being briefed on the problem and in contact with them.

While in the hospital in early February, Fetterman signed the bipartisan Railroad Safety Act which was introduced after a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. A member of the Committee on Agriculture, the senator also has a hand in crafting a farm bill that Congress votes on every five years.

While Fetterman was gone, Democrats grappled with his and several other absences, including Feinstein’s illness and the absence of Senator Jeff Merkley, who spent time at home after his mother’s death.

Senator John Fetterman refused to answer questions upon his return

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was also back on Monday after being forced out of office due to a fall

Vice President Kamala Harris, in her role as Senate President, had to make some time in the vote. Democrats have a slim majority of 51 seats and any absence could hinder their ability to pass legislation.

In a statement when he was released from Walter Reed late last month, Fetterman said the care he received there had “changed my life.”

“I’m excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the Pennsylvania senator deserves it,” said Fetterman, who won praise for his decision to seek treatment.