Is Dianne Feinstein a liability for Democrats?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2023
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Summary
After an ongoing medical absence, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is being called on by her colleagues to resign. Today, why Feinstein is in the hot seat and what this moment could mean for the trailblazer’s legacy.
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In early March, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was hospitalized with a case of the shingles. Since then, she’s been absent from her job, and her Democratic colleagues have been calling on her to resign. As the tie-breaking vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Feinstein’s absence has stalled President Biden’s judicial nominations from moving forward.
Cue the outrage.
In a tweet last week, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) publicly called out Feinstein’s refusal to resign as irresponsible at a time when Republican-appointed judges are calling the shots on significant legislation across the country.
Congress reporter Liz Goodwin walks us through the Democratic infighting over Feinstein’s absence. We trace the discontent with Feinstein to its partisan origins, discuss wider concerns about her age and mental acuity, and grapple with what this moment could mean for Feinstein’s legacy as a trailblazing female lawmaker.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Diane Feinstein is really a towering figure in the Senate. |
| 0:06.8 | That's undeniable. |
| 0:08.2 | She's sort of one of those people who has this long list of first, you know, first female |
| 0:14.1 | mayor of San Francisco, first female senator from California, first female senator to be |
| 0:19.7 | on this committee or that committee. |
| 0:21.9 | Liz Goodwin covers Congress for the post. |
| 0:24.8 | And Liz says it's actually Feinstein's spot on one of those committees, the Senate Judiciary |
| 0:30.4 | Committee. |
| 0:31.4 | That's creating real problems for the senator and her democratic colleagues. |
| 0:39.4 | Back in February, Feinstein got sick with shingles. |
| 0:42.8 | She hasn't been at work since. |
| 0:45.3 | And sure, Liz says, we've seen medical issues keep senators from the work plenty of times. |
| 0:51.3 | But... |
| 0:52.3 | Why her absence is so notable is she is the tie breaking vote on the Senate Judiciary |
| 0:58.0 | Committee for Democrats. |
| 1:00.3 | The war around judicial nominations in Congress is getting more and more intense. |
| 1:05.9 | Republicans want to remake the balance of judges across the country. |
| 1:10.9 | Democrats want to push through as many Biden nominations as they can. |
| 1:14.8 | And Feinstein's absence leaves those nominees stalled. |
| 1:19.2 | So in the past few weeks, some liberals starting in kind of the grassroots level and then |
| 1:24.6 | trickling up to a few democratic members of the House have been calling on her to retire |
| 1:31.2 | as her absence stretches on and as her staff does not provide a timeline for her return. |
... |
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