Who's Showing Up to Vote in the Senate? Not John Fetterman
The Pennsylvania senator has skipped more votes than any other lawmaker in the chamber so far this year.
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 to GovTrack, a nonpartisan site that tracks lawmakers’ votes.
"I'm devastated by your inquiries,” said Fetterman, 55, when asked about his worst-in-Senate attendance record, declining to elaborate further. Of the 18 votes Fetterman has missed, 11 were on Thursdays.
Despite his Senate absences, Fetterman didn’t miss an opportunity to travel all the way to Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort to meet with the then-president-elect – the first sitting Democratic senator to do so after last year’s election.
As one of his party’s most outspoken supporters of Israel, Fetterman also made sure to be in DC to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israeli prime minister’s visit this month. He also didn’t miss Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last year. Ditching his casual look for a suit, he was reportedly the only Democrat to stay behind after the speech to shake the Israeli leader’s hand.
Notably, Fetterman’s 230-mile commute from Braddock, Pennsylvania, to Capitol Hill is a fraction of the 2,826-mile journey for his Democratic colleagues from Hawaii, Sens. Mazie Hirono, who has missed no votes during this Congress, and Brian Schatz, who has only missed one during the current term.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine continues to hold the record for the longest streak of consecutive votes among current senators.