Senator John Fetterman’s Long Road Back
Next Question with Katie Couric
Katie Couric Media
4.4 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 13 November 2025
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Since his stroke in 2022, Senator John Fetterman has been battling—battling clinical depression, his own party, frustrated constituents, and even the political culture itself. At 6'8” and clad in his trademark hoodies, Fetterman has never fit the conventional congressional mold. But where does that leave him now, as he continues to defy expectations and confound both allies and critics?
From the government shutdown to Israel to immigration, Katie and Senator Fetterman cover a lot of ground. But at the heart of this urgent conversation, and of his new memoir Unfettered, is Fetterman's harrowing struggle with depression and suicidal ideation—and his personal mission to remind people that the world is always better with them in it.
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.3 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.8 | Time is the greatest gift we can give and receive. |
| 0:08.3 | As we turn the clocks back this fall, Bristol-Myers Squibb is recognizing oncologists who help give patients something extraordinary. |
| 0:17.7 | More time. |
| 0:19.0 | The Time Back campaign celebrates those everyday heroes who are working |
| 0:23.6 | tirelessly in the pursuit of potentially helping get patients more time to experience key moments, |
| 0:29.8 | like seeing a child learn to ride a bike or a long-awaited vacation. As we turn back our clocks, |
| 0:36.7 | let's pause to thank the doctors who make a difference |
| 0:39.8 | every day. Discover more about the Time Back campaign and join Bristol-Myers Squibb in celebrating |
| 0:46.3 | the physicians who give the gift of more time at BMS.com slash time back. |
| 1:01.2 | I understand there's some people that represent very, very blue states. |
| 1:05.3 | They have the luxury of just saying we're all gas, no breaks. |
| 1:10.0 | But when I represent a place like Pennsylvania, it keeps you honest. |
| 1:13.5 | And now there's another side and trying to find a way forward. |
| 1:14.6 | And then let's talk in numbers. |
| 1:20.2 | In Pennsylvania, we had 2 million, 2 million people on SNAP. |
| 1:24.7 | And around 400,000 Pennsylvanians receive those tax credits. |
| 1:29.5 | And now, right now, keeping our government shut down, they're getting neither. |
| 1:37.3 | My guest today, Senator John Federman, has never exactly fit the mold of a U.S. Senator, he's six foot eight, and he favors hoodies and gym shorts over Brooks Brothers suits. In his new book called |
| 1:44.0 | Unfettered, Senator Federman opens up about his |
| 1:47.2 | 22 stroke, his battle with depression, and his remarkable recovery. But since there's no such |
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