Senate Democrats on Tuesday failed to temporarily replace Dianne Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee.
Dianne Feinstein’s absence from the Senate is holding up Joe Biden’s judicial confirmations.
Feinstein, 89, has been MIA since she was hospitalized for shingles last month.
The California senator’s absence from the Senate Judiciary Committee has the panel deadlocked at 10-10.
It is unclear when Feinstein will return Washington.
Feinstein has missed 60 votes out of the 82 taken this year, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Democrats tried to temporarily replace Feinstein but GOP lawmakers blocked their efforts.
CBS News reported:
Senate Democrats tried and failed Tuesday to temporarily appoint a replacement for Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the powerful Judiciary Committee, with Republicans objecting to a request that would have allowed Democrats to push through judicial nominations as she recovers from an illness.
The California Democrat has missed dozens of votes since she was diagnosed with shingles and briefly hospitalized in February. Last week, she asked Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to replace her on the Judiciary Committee until she could return to Washington, which she vowed to do “as soon as possible once my medical team advises that it’s safe for me to travel.”
Her absence left the Judiciary Committee split along party lines, meaning the panel’s Democratic members can’t push through President Biden’s judicial nominees without Republican support.
Following a meeting of the Senate Democratic leadership on Tuesday, Schumer said he wanted Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat of Maryland, to temporarily replace Feinstein on the committee.
On the Senate floor, Schumer requested unanimous consent to make the switch, which prompted an objection by GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
In February Feinstein announced she is retiring at the end of her term and will not seek reelection.
The California Senator is retiring after THREE decades in the Senate and more than 50 years in office.
Last year the San Francisco Chronicle reported Feinstein’s cognitive decline is so bad that her own Democrat colleagues want her to retire before her term expires at the end of 2024.
The California Senator will be 91 years old when her term expires at the end of 2024.