The Democratic Party in the USA has decided that Dianne Feinstein, California’s senior Senator, is too old, at 89, to serve any longer and they’ve called on her to resign.
Feinstein announced this week that her return to Washington would be delayed by ‘continued complications’ from shingles. She has already missed nearly three-quarters of Senate votes this year because of her illness.
A more immediate frustration for the Democrats is that her absence leaves the Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, unable to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees.
When Feinstein debated re-election in 2017, she was, at 84, already the oldest senator and already showing decline. Yet the California political firmament (Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Gavin Newsom) rallied with endorsements and rolled over a primary challenger backed by the California Democratic Party.
Feinstein’s office issued a statement saying she would instead urge Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer to designate a temporary replacement on the Judiciary Committee, which Schumer agreed he would do.
The Senate would be required to sign off on such a move, either by unanimous consent or by clearing a 60-vote threshold, with the assent of at least 10 Republicans.
The Republicans could prolong the judge-confirmation backlog, but it could prolong what has become a very uncomfortable situation for Democrats.
This also raises the issue of Biden running for a second presidential term as he has already displayed signs of cognitive decline and physical unsteadiness.
Image: Senate Democrats, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons