Is Fetterman’s attendance unusually low?
This is from February:
The Senate has held 91 floor votes in the new Congress, and the attendance record is clear: Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has the worst record, missing 18 votes, eight more than any other senator, according toGovTrack, a nonpartisan site that tracks lawmakers’ votes.
Going to Govtrack today:
It says:
From Feb 2023 to Jun 2025, Fetterman missed 174 of 998 roll call votes, which is 17.4%. This is much worse than the median of 2.9% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.
That seems to qualify as “unusually low” to me.
The real question is, how many of those votes actually mattered? Was anything passed or not passed because he didn’t vote, or has his absence even caused the result to come into question?
The vast majority of votes have totals that are already known well in advance, with enough accuracy that the outcome, one way or another, is never in question.
That’s not the question I answered.
Fair, it’s the question I should have asked.
I didn’t say it was.
Then why did you address me rather than the person who asked the question I answered?
I just quoted the last post in a back and forth on the topic that involved a number of posters, not just you or @Love_Rhombus.
Unless it’s a symbolic or BS unanimous vote like “resolution to declare that ice cream is yummy,” going by what votes “mattered” is bad criteria. Senators should take a stand on issues even if the final tally doesn’t come down to their vote alone. That is how their constituents evaluate if their senator is representing their interests.
Is there any idea what he’s doing instead of going to work?
I agree in principle, but since very few lawmakers actually behave that way, I’m not going to judge lawmakers that have shitty attendance but otherwise uphold good policy too harshly.
Hanging out with far right activists, embracing ICE’s persecution of minorities and violation of the law. In other words, “upholding good policy”.
Hopefully he adds that vote to all the other votes he didn’t show up for
He spends a lot of time talking to Faux News, don’t he?
Hopefully dealing with his fairly serious health problems
It appears that a lot of those missed votes were in early 2023, when he was hospitalized.
I don’t think Democrats are going to see it as a good thing to be Trump’s favorite Democrat.
Kind of part of the job, dude.
“Oh my God. I just want to go home. I’ve missed our entire trip to the beach,” Fetterman said. “I’m going to vote no.”
Totally tone deaf. When stories are circulating that you’re not doing the job, not showing up for the job and not even up for the job, maybe don’t whine to the press about not being able to go to the beach.
This guy sucks and is an idiot.
The framing and phrasing here are so MAGA and therefore so dumb my brain hurts bad. So if anyone does anything “important,” they are above criticism?
Fucking moron.