Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) plans to introduce a resolution to temporarily replace retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on the Judiciary Committee this week as Democrats are desperate to keep President Joe Biden's judicial nominees moving to the floor.
Schumer said he hopes Republicans will support the resolution to fill Feinstein's seat on the committee while the 89-year-old California senator recovers from shingles.
“I'd like to do it sometime this week,” he said according to The Hill.
Schumer said he spoke with Feinstein a couple of days ago and told reporters that she expects to be back at the Capitol “soon” but didn't set any definitive date of return.
“I spoke to Sen. Feinstein just a few days ago. She believes she will return soon. She's very hopeful of that and so am I,” he said at a Monday press conference. “We think the Republicans should allow a temporary replacement until she returns.”
Sen. Feinstein has missed 60 of the 82 votes taken in the Senate this year.
Schumer said he plans to talk with members of his caucus to determine a viable replacement.
“We should have a temporary replacement until she [returns] and we hope Republicans will join us in that,” Schumer said when asked whether he's confident at least nine Republicans would vote for a resolution to replace Feinstein on the Judiciary panel.
Schumer said he plans to discuss the issue with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) who returned to the Upper Chamber on Monday after suffering a concussion last month.
Democrats need to muster 60 votes to fill Feinstein's seat on the committee but some Republicans have already expressed hesitation about replacing the senior lawmaker.
On Monday. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said she will block any request for unanimous consent to seat another Democrat on the panel.
“I will not go along with Chuck Schumer's plan to replace Senator Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee and pack the court with activist judges,” Blackburn said on Twitter on Monday. “Joe Biden wants the Senate to rubber stamp his unqualified and controversial judges to radically transform America.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also signaled that he would not be supportive of the move to replace Feinstein on the panel.
“Republicans should not assist Democrats in confirming Joe Biden's most radical nominees to the courts,” Cotton said on Twitter over the weekend.
Feinstein has already said she will not seek another term for her Senate seat, which she was first elected to in 1992.
Three prominent Democrat members of Congress have already announced their bids for the outgoing Senator's seats: Rep. Katie Porter, Rep. Adam Schiff, and Rep. Barbara Lee. Last week, pro-Trump attorney Eric Early announced his candidacy for the seat.
If the senior lawmaker does resign, it would mean Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) would get to appoint a replacement until an election is held for the seat.
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I hope her salary is adjusted to reflect the number of votes she was not able to make! Pay in the real world is determined by what you do and it appears that she is doing NOTHING to earn the money the taxpayers are giving her!
yet a newly elected DEMOCRAT SENATOR has spent more time in the mental ward at WR than in the Senate. how many votes has he missed. bet it is more than Feinstein. when are you going to replace him.