Dianne Feinstein, 89, STILL won’t say when she’ll be back at work but criticizes Republicans

Senator Dianne Feinstein, 89, denounced Republicans in a statement Thursday, insisting her absence from Capitol Hill was not the reason for a delay in judicial nominations.

Her age and frailty have been the subject of rumors in Washington and calls for her to resign have accelerated during her two-month absence as she recovers from shingles.

But those looking for clues as to when she might return won’t find them in her press release.

“While the Senate Judiciary Committee has put forward eight strong candidates in my absence, I’m disappointed that the Republicans on the committee have held back a few,” she said.

“I am confident that when I get back to the Senate, we can quickly remove the remaining qualified candidates from committee and take them to the Senate floor for a vote.”

Feinstein sits on the powerful judiciary committee, and some Democrats have expressed aloud concerns that her absence will slow down the Biden administration’s efforts to install liberal judges.

Not so, according to her office, which said work was continuing.

“The Senate has confirmed 21 district and circuit court nominees during Senator Feinstein’s absence, including seven this week,” it said.

Those who want clues will have to try harder. A pointer was spotted in Sen. Chuck Schumer’s notes this week.

Senate Democrats held a press conference Tuesday where he didn’t address Feinstein’s absence, but a recording of Schumer’s notes showed he had an update from the senator.

“I spoke to Senator Feinstein yesterday. We both hope she can come back next week,” the document read.

A spokesman for Schumer said: “It was in his notes and he would have said it if anyone had asked.”

The senator has been absent for almost two months since she was hospitalized in early March. Her absence from the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee has stalled President Biden’s judicial nominations as Republicans refuse to give the nominees a majority of votes to be confirmed.

Feinstein’s office would not confirm a timeline for her return.

“Senator Feinstein continues to make progress in her recovery, but we do not yet have a timeline for her return to Washington, which is dependent on her medical team saying it is safe to travel,” the spokesperson said.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a high-profile hearing where Democrats overturned the Supreme Court’s lax ethics rules and some Republicans agreed that the Supreme Court needed to do more to provide transparency and trust about conflicts of interest and free perks.

Chairman Dick Durbin had urged Chief Justice John Roberts to testify or appoint another member of the court to do so. But without Feinstein, he couldn’t subpoena justice, who refused to obey.

Meanwhile, New York Progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Monday it was time for 89-year-old Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein to retire, amid an extended absence from Congress due to ill health that hampered the efforts of the Democrats to confirm liberal judges has upset.

AOC is the latest member of Feinstein’s own party to call for her to go, brushing off complaints that such posts were sexist.

“I find criticism of that position as ‘anti-feminist’ a farce,” she wrote on the new social media platform Bluesky.

Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, have rejected such calls as sexist because they say men of the same age would not make the same demands.

But there’s no getting around it — Republicans have refused to help Democrats replace Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee while she’s gone.

“Her refusal to retire or show up wreaks havoc on the judiciary — precisely where reproduction rights are being violated,” AOC wrote, claiming that Feinstein is violating women’s rights.

“That failure means that Dems can now pass only GOP-approved nominees during this precious period.”

It follows similar comments she made in April, after weeks of speculation about Feinstein’s vulnerability.

“I think what we’re seeing is really concerning, and I think when a member’s health and ability to serve us is put in the spotlight, it’s very unfortunate, it’s very sad,” she shared CNN.

“But I do think what’s happening right now, and the impact that the continued ability to serve has on our ability to fill the courts, the impact that this has on people’s access to abortion care, I think this is something that’s – it’s unfortunately something I think is appropriate to consider.’

It follows a ruling in Texas that threatened access to mifepristone, a widely used abortion pill, issued by a conservative judge led by Donald Trump.

Even before shingles, the oldest member of the Senate was prone to worrying bouts of forgetfulness — with staff having to remind her where she stood on bills and once forgetting that she had already announced her 2024 retirement.

California Representatives Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee are already in a race for her seat.

Meanwhile, allies in her own party have helped fend off calls that she should go.

“Senator Feinstein has been a champion for California for 20 years,” former House Speaker and co-octogenary Pelosi told CBS news. “She deserves that respect to get better and return to service.”

Men wouldn’t face the same phone calls, she added.

‘It’s interesting to me. I don’t know what political agendas are at work going after Senator Feinstein in that way. I’ve never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate like that,” she added.

But her absence comes at a critical time, as Democrats have the narrowest majority in the Senate.

The Senate will hold a hearing on Thursday on raising the debt ceiling after the House passed a Republican bill last month that would raise the borrowing limit, but only if it came with major cuts.

Each bill needs 60 votes to pass the Senate, and Feinstein’s absence reduces the Democrats’ influence by one vote.