Sen. John Fetterman to return to the Senate tonight after six-week hospitalization

Sen. John Fetterman is to return to the Senate this evening for the first time since mid-February, after a six-week hospitalization for clinical depression.

The Pennsylvania senator is expected to join a roll call vote to advance a nominee for deputy under secretary of defense, Radha Iyengar Plumb, to a confirmation vote. He’ll cochair a panel hearing on Wednesday.

The highly routine moment will likely be met with outsized attention, given the Democrat’s path to the U.S. Senate — suffering a stroke, winning a politically coveted open seat, and then sharing his struggles with depression and seeking treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Fetterman hasn’t voted in the chamber, where Democrats have a razor-thin majority, since Feb. 15. Few major legislative decisions, however, have come before the Senate in the weeks he was away. Senators have spent almost all their time on confirmation votes, mostly on noncontroversial nominees who have enough support to advance even without Fetterman.

» READ MORE: A U.S. senator openly seeking treatment for mental health is rare. So is staying 44 days in a Pa. hospital for depression.

Fetterman left the hospital March 31 and returned home to Braddock, Pa., where his wife, Gisele, shared updates of him spending time with the family and enjoying Easter.

His staff released a letter from doctors at Walter Reed that described his depression as in remission. It also provided new information on Fetterman’s physical health.

In late March, Sen. Bob Casey said he visited Fetterman before he left Walter Reed.

“It’s remarkable how good he looked,” Casey said then. “He’s in really good shape. I look forward to welcoming him back to the Senate next month.”

Many of Fetterman’s colleagues have applauded his public acknowledgment that he was suffering from depression as a courageous disclosure about an often-stigmatized topic. When he walks into the Senate on Monday, it will be the first time many will greet him in person since he went on leave.

He’ll also likely face a crush of new media attention. He did a sit-down interview with CBS’s Jane Pauley last month but otherwise hasn’t talked to reporters since shortly after he was elected in November.

“It’s like you just won the biggest, you know, race in, in the country. And the whole thing about depression is, is that objectively, you may have won,” Fetterman told Pauley in the interview. “But depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost. And that’s exactly what happened. And that was the start of a downward spiral.”

» READ MORE: A look at John Fetterman's health journey, from his stroke to his hospitalization for depression

Fetterman’s week on Capitol Hill will continue Tuesday and Wednesday with constituent meetings and committee hearings. He will also lead a panel hearing for the first time: Fetterman is to cochair a hearing Wednesday about food assistance and nutrition programs.

In his time away he stayed connected to Senate business and even cosponsored legislation.

His team raised money, too. An April 1 email encouraged people to support Fetterman through his mental health challenges and “defend our Democratic majority” with donations or by buying a “Steel is forged in fire” T-shirt.

“As John knows better than most, making it through adversity can build an ability to withstand anything,” the fundraising email read. “He’s made remarkable progress in his mental health journey and come back from incredible challenges.”