California Dem Sen Feinstein's prolonged absence stalls Biden nominees, renews resignation calls

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein has yet to return to Capitol Hill after being released from the hospital in which the 89–year-old senator was being treated for the shingles virus – creating problems for fellow chamber Democrats to confirm President Biden nominees and renewing calls for her immediate resignation.

Feinstein has already missed 58 Senate votes this session since being hospitalized in February for the virus, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. She was released from the hospital March 7 and says she is still recovering at home.

Senate Democrats have a 51-49 majority. But the absence of Feinstein and fellow Democrat Sen. John Fetterman has made it difficult for their conference to appoint President Biden nominees. 

As a result, Vice President Kamala Harris has cast three tie-breaking votes this year in her role as president of the Senate, the newspaper also reports. 

Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, was hospitalized in February for depression as is expected to return after the chamber’s Easter recess, as is Feinstein. 

Calls for Feinstein, the oldest serving Senate member, to resign began last year when unnamed Senate colleagues and former staffers said in April the senator's memory was rapidly deteriorating and staffers did much of her work, according to the New York Post.

Feinstein announced in February that she will not seek a sixth term.

But on Tuesday, Jon Lovett, a former Obama White House speechwriter, called on Feinstein, who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which the judicial nominee process begins, to resign.

"Dianne Feinstein, who should not be in the Senate, is now preventing us from being able to confirm judges," Lovett said on his podcast.

"I think what the people around Dianne Feinstein are doing, allowing, being part of this farce of having a lack of a senator in such an important job is really wrong. And Dianne Feinstein should no longer be in the Senate. She has to resign and more people should be calling on her to resign."