FEINSTEIN REQUIRES AID ON RETURN TO SENATE
Democrat receives applause upon arrival at hearing
An hour into a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was wheeled into the chamber by a staff member. She grabbed his arm tightly to steady herself as she rose to her feet and received a standing ovation after she made the short walk to her seat.
Her first day back at the committee after an extended absence recuperating from shingles was short. She said little beyond voting on three nominated district court judges who lacked Republican support and thus required backing from every Democrat to advance to the full Senate.
“I’m glad to welcome our colleague, Sen. Feinstein, back to our committee,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said, before adding that she was abetting “several nominees who are so extreme and so unqualified that they couldn’t have a prayer of getting a single Republican vote on this committee.”
The moment of partisan rancor, which followed less biting greetings from her other colleagues, felt almost welcoming in a forum where she has spent decades sparring over judicial nominees. But Feinstein’s nearly threemonth absence and homecoming has prompted debate over whether the 89year-old, who appeared frail when she arrived at the Capitol, should leave before the end of her term. And it has raised broader questions about whether aging lawmakers grow too dependent on their staffs, and if that makes leaving the comforts of Washington that much harder.
“The Senate can be a very warm, very comforting place for senators,” said James Manley, who served Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., as an aide from 1990 through 2010. “You have staff to open the doors for you, the Capitol Police at your beck and call. Everyone’s got a smile for you and you have lots and lots of staff to do anything and everything you’re asked to do.”
Feinstein, who has already announced she won’t run for reelection in 2024, has the financial means for the best home care in the world. But lawmakers become accustomed to life with doting assistants and aides who schedule their lives in 15-minute increments, write their speeches and often drive them to meetings and events. Some even use interns to walk their dogs. New senators and those running for reelection often need the help even when they are in their physical prime. A senator’s life can be exhausting, given the imperative to attend hearings, fundraisers and constituent events all while crisscrossing the country.
The sight of Feinstein being wheeled through the Capitol’s halls with a retinue of photographers and cameramen in tow underscored how eager the public was to get a sense of her well-being. Beyond her shingles diagnosis and that she was hospitalized, the senator has revealed little about her health or how much she’s been working.
Feinstein has long been known as not only powerful but hands-on — requesting, for example, to edit media advisories before they were sent out. On Thursday, as the nomination for a district judge position came up in her committee, she read her yes vote from a note and then asked to be recorded as voting in person on three other judges whose nominations were raised before her arrival. One aide whispered exuberantly into her ear. Another brought her coffee. Aides appeared to adjust the height of her chair before she arrived at the hearing.
Democrats also worked around her, voting in three nominees who had bipartisan support before her arrival, when her vote was not needed. Feinstein said in a news release Wednesday that her doctors “have advised me to work a lighter schedule” as she resumes her Senate career.
One Feinstein staff member said the senator would decide which votes and hearings to attend on a caseby-case basis. But Thursday’s hearing suggested she would probably skip votes when it was not crucial for the Democrats, who hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate.
Feinstein’s vote Thursday helped District Court nominees Charnelle Bjelkengren, Kato Crews and Marian Gaston pass out of committee. Democrats pushed back over GOP assertions that trio wasn’t qualified. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., came to the defense of Gaston — who is a San Diego County Superior Court judge.