Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) hasn’t been in the Senate since February.
Ill with a shingles infection, she was hospitalized in early March, then returned to her home in San Francisco to recuperate. Feinstein “remain[s] committed to the job,” she said in a statement Wednesday. But commitment doesn’t confirm judges, and Feinstein’s absence has stalled President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations. Two House Democrats, Reps. Ro Khanna (Calif.) and Dean Phillips (Minn.), have called on Feinstein to resign. (In February, Feinstein said she would leave office when her term ends, in December 2024.)
Their demand was met with swift rebuke from former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who told reporters Wednesday it is not just wrong but sexist to ask Feinstein to step down. “It’s interesting to me,” Pelosi said. “I don’t know what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen. Feinstein in that way. I’ve never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way.” To that, Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) added an ageism charge, tweeting that while men are honored as they age, when “women age or get sick, the men are quick to push them aside.”