Feinstein dismisses argument her absence has kept Biden judicial nominees for getting confirmed

California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein says that her almost two-month absence has not delayed confirming judicial nominees.

"The Senate continues to swiftly confirm highly qualified individuals to the federal judiciary, including seven more judicial nominees who were confirmed this week," Feinstein said in a statement Friday. "There has been no slowdown."

Feinstein was hospitalized in early March after her diagnosis with shingles. She was released from the hospital a few days later, but has not returned to work. 

She is "hopeful" to be able to return to the Senate next week, according to Forbes.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin told CNN in an interview that the 89-year-old senator's absence has slowed down their effort to confirm nominees.

"I can't consider nominees in these circumstances because a tie vote is a losing vote in committee," he told the outlet.

Some fellow Democrats have called for her to retire now, instead at the end of her term, as she plans. 

Feinstein, in the letter, did acknowledge that some nominees have been blocked from moving forward during her absence.

Senate Republicans have said no to the appointment of a temporary replacement for Feinstein on the chamber's Judiciary Committee, which decides after a review process whether a nominee gets a final, floor confirmation vote. 

"I'm disappointed that Republicans on the committee are blocking a few from moving forward,"  Feinstein wrote. "I’m confident that when I return to the Senate, we will be able to move the remaining qualified nominees out of committee quickly and to the Senate floor for a vote."