Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) should not resign from office despite her health travails. So says twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton who has cautioned her to stay on in the face of Republicans who would seek to block Democrats from filling a vacancy on the Judiciary Committee and stall President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees.
“Here’s the dilemma: The Republicans will not agree to add someone else to the Judiciary Committee if she retires,” Clinton laid out to Time magazine Monday during an interview with Charlotte Alter at the Chicago Humanities Festival.
“I want you to think about how crummy that is. So I don’t know what’s in her heart about whether she really would or wouldn’t, but right now, she can’t. Because if we’re going to get judges confirmed, which is one of the most important continuing obligations that we have, then we cannot afford to have her seat vacant.”
Feinstein’s ongoing battle with her health has been well documented, as Breitbart News reported.
She only returned to work in D.C. last week after a three-month absence during which she reportedly had “several complications,” many of which have not been publicly disclosed, after she returned home from being hospitalized for shingles.
Plenty of Democrats called for Feinstein to retire from her seat at the time of her absence, a move she rejected outright.
She did agree to have her seat on the Judiciary Committee filled temporarily, but Republicans blocked Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) from replacing her on the panel in April with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
Clinton, 75, acknowledged Feinstein has suffered several health setbacks that have kept her away from Washington but sees the alternative of her permanent absence as too much to bear.
She further outlined in the interview things would be different if Republicans were to “do the decent thing and say: ‘Well, this woman was gravely ill, she had just lost her husband to cancer … of course we will let you fill this position if she retires.’”
File/Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., laughs about her illness yesterday with the media and Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., after the Senate Luncheons, Tuesday, 01 February, 2005. (Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) attends a business hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill May 11, 2023 in Washington, DC. This was Feinstein’s first hearing after fighting a case of shingles and being absent from the Senate for almost three months. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“But they won’t say that,” she said. “So what are we supposed to do? All these people pushing her to retire: Fine, we get no more judges? I don’t think that’s a good trade-off.”
Clinton’s backing for Feinstein to stay on appears at odds with her thoughts when she addressed the 80-year-old Biden’s fitness for office at the Financial Times Weekend Festival in Washington, saying “his age is an issue, and people have every right to consider” it, according to Fox News.
The former secretary of state and senator from New York delivered her view after Times editor Edward Luce pointed to Biden’s trouble negotiating a simple flight of stairs during last week’s G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, as evidence of his decline.
“There was that heart-stopping moment when he almost fell over coming down the stairs a day or two ago,” Luce said.
“Every time that happens, your heart is in your mouth because these things could be consequential. Is that a concern?”
“It’s a concern for anyone. We’ve had presidents who had fallen before who were a lot younger, and people didn’t go into heart palpitations,” Clinton replied.
The former first lady also said she believes Biden is determined to run for another term, claiming he has a “good record” in office.
“But, you know, he has this great saying — and I think he’s right — don’t judge him for running against the Almighty but against the alternative. I am of the camp that I think he’s determined to run.”