A source inside Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., office finally came clean on his timeline to recovery, according to reports late Wednesday.
After months of relative silence, Fetterman is expected to finally return to the Senate in April, two months after the freshman Democrat was hospitalized for clinical depression, a person close to Fetterman said Wednesday.
It is Fetterman’s second hospitalization since officially joining the Senate in January.
The person, who was not authorized to discuss Fetterman’s plans and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Fetterman will return the week of April 17.
It was not immediately clear when Fetterman will leave Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he checked in Feb. 15 after weeks of what aides described as Fetterman being withdrawn and uninterested in eating, discussing work, or the usual banter with staff.
Fetterman, 53, was barely a month into his service in Washington and still recovering from brain damage left by the near-fatal stroke he suffered last May when he went to Walter Reed on the advice of the Capitol physician, Dr. Brian P. Monahan.
Post-stroke depression related to struggles with recovery is common, and doctors say it is treatable with medication. Fetterman cannot understand spoken language and relies on a computer translator to have conversations.
Before Wednesday, neither Fetterman nor Senate Democratic leadership had provided a certain timeline for his return.
Fetterman’s return will be welcome news for Democrats who have struggled to find votes for some nominations, in particular, without Fetterman there.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has also been absent for several weeks recovering from a case of the shingles, and the two absences have made some votes difficult in Democrats’ single-vote, 51-49 majority.
Republicans have also dealt with some absences of their own, notably Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been at home recovering from a fall that gave him a serious concussion.
McConnell could also return as soon as the week of April 17.
READ MORE: Fetterman’s brain damage may be permanent, warns chief of staff
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article