Politics

Fetterman defends mental health, desire to stay Congress

Published

1 year ago

June 2, 2025

Sen. John Fetterman is pushing back on reports that he no longer wants to serve in Congress.

At a debate with Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) Monday morning, Fetterman claimed that the media is trying to “smear” him over his lack of public appearances, including for congressional votes.

“I’m here. I’m doing that job,” Fetterman (D-Pa.) said. “For me, if I miss some of those quotes — I mean some of those votes — I’ve made 90 percent of them and, and we all know those votes that I’ve missed were on Monday; those are travel days, and I have three young kids, and I — those are throwaway procedural votes. … That’s a choice that I made, and if you want to attack me for that, go ahead.”

Fetterman’s office did not immediately respond to Blue Light News’s request for comment.

The first-term senator has come under fire from progressives and others both in Congress and his home state over his voting record and alleged outbursts toward staffers.

Fetterman suffered a stroke shortly before winning the 2022 Senate primary and was admitted to the hospital, where doctors removed a clot. In February 2023, Fetterman announced he was seeking treatment for severe depression.

Many applauded Fetterman for being candid about his mental health struggles.

But a bombshell New York magazine report this month alleged that current and former staffers are concerned about Fetterman’s mental and physical health. Top Democrats have yet to come to Fetterman’s defense, and at least one Pennsylvanian progressive organization called on Fetterman to resign, citing the senator’s voting record and “disdainful attitude” toward constituents.

“You have failed to fulfill the most basic duties of the office by avoiding contact with your constituents who can’t even leave voicemails after business hours, refusing to hold town halls, yelling at visitors in your office and inexcusably missing more votes than any other member of the current Senate,” the letter from Indivisible Pennsylvania read.

On Monday, Fetterman alleged that Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) missed more votes than he has. Sanders and Murray did not immediately respond to requests for comment

“Why aren’t the left media yelling and demanding them and claiming they’re not doing their job?” Fetterman said.

Since taking office in 1991, Sanders has missed 836 of 6,226 roll call votes, or about 13.4 percent, according to GovTrack.us, a government transparency site. Between 1993 and May 2025, Murray missed 290 of 11,106 roll call votes, or about 2.6 percent.

In his first term, Fetterman has missed 174 of 961 of roll call votes, or about 18.1 percent, according to GovTrack.us. The median among lifetime records of current sitting senators is 2.9 percent.

Politics

‘Don’t count on me to say bad words’

Published

18 minutes ago

June 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The French minister for sports, Marina Ferrari, was in New York City to support her national team, which will play its second match tomorrow against Iraq. On Monday, she dropped by the French consulate across from Central Park for an event organized by Business France to discuss the opportunities this year’s three-country World Cup represents for French and American companies.

Panelists included French Football Federation President Philippe Diallo, New York City Economic Development Corporation interim CEO Jeanny Pak and representatives from the NFL and the New Orleans Saints, which are playing the first ever professional (American) football game in France this fall at a stadium in the Paris suburbs.

In prepared remarks, Ferrari talked about Franco-American cooperation, not just for major sporting events, but also for America’s 250th anniversary.

“France will be, as it always has been, at your side,” she said.

In an interview afterwards, Ferrari answered questions in English about politically outspoken French footballers, Qatari influence in French sports and the beautiful game being divided into quarters by TV commercials during World Cup “hydration breaks.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What do you think of football becoming a four-quarter sport instead of a sport of halves? Are the Europeans concerned that this World Cup has made it into a four-quarter sport?

In France, we have been working with the broadcaster and they took the engagement not to put advertising during those pauses. For us, it’s important. When we organize in the future such a competition — with the weather and with the climate change — we will have to adapt the competition. So I understand clearly why those times now exist, but in France we take care about not pushing so much advertising during this time.

You talked about sports uniting. What do you think of Kylian Mbappé and others on the team taking stances against the far right?

I think a player is a citizen like anyone, so they can express their feelings, their political views, or their opinions. It is not forbidden — but, while playing, stop when you are wearing the shirt of France. But I think they are free to do that.

Paris 2024 was such a successful Olympics. What have you talked to Americans about to pull off a World Cup and an Olympics? And how are you meeting that same level for the Winter Olympics in 2030?

I think that we’ve got to think together about the future of these Olympic Games in winter, because you know, with the climate change, having snow in the future is more and more uncertain. So we’ve got to think, how do we produce snow in the future without taking water from the consumption of the citizens. So we have a lot to do on that, because in the future I think that only a few countries will be able to organize again [Winter] Olympics and Paralympics, so we’ve got really to create a new model, a sober model for the future and for the next generation.

Are you concerned about Qatari dominance of French domestic football, given the country’s sovereign wealth funds ownership of champion club Paris Saint-Germain?

We are proud of having Paris Saint Germain. I hear this bad buzz, blah blah blah, the investors, etc. I think we are lucky to have such a club, so don’t count on me to say bad words.