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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is “hopeful” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) will return to the Senate next week after speaking to her on the phone, according to a picture of his prepared notes for a Tuesday press conference.
The document, headlined “DEBT CEILING DEFAULT,” that Schumer brought with him to the news conference, included a potential question on Feinstein’s future in the upper chamber.
“With the new June 1 deadline, isn’t it time to tell Senator Feinstein she has to either return next week or resign?” the document, captured by Politico photojournalist Francis Chung, asks, in reference to the looming debt ceiling deadline.
“I spoke with Sen. Feinstein yesterday,” the reply follows. “We are both hopeful she can return next week.”
Schumer, though, did not end up addressing Feinstein’s prolonged absence during the presser.
“It was in his notes, and he would have said if someone asked,” his office told Politico.
Feinstein, who was hospitalized with a case of shingles in February, has been recovering at home in San Francisco and has not provided a return date. She has said she will come back to Washington once her doctors allow her to travel.
Her absence is getting renewed attention following Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s warning that the U.S. government could reach the debt ceiling earlier than anticipated, on June 1, making her vote in the chamber crucial.
Feinstein’s absence is already being felt on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee where it poses a challenge for President Joe Biden’s legislative priorities, including the approval of his judicial nominees.
While Feinstein asked that she be temporarily replaced on the panel, Republicans rejected the request.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday joined some of her progressive Democratic colleagues in calling for Feinstein to step down.
“Her refusal to either retire or show up is causing great harm to the judiciary — precisely where repro rights are getting stripped,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “That failure means now in this precious window Dems can only pass GOP-approved nominees.”
Feinstein has announced she isn’t running for reelection but intends to serve the remainder of her term, which ends in January 2025.
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