Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he would not support temporarily replacing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on the Senate Judiciary Committee and said calls for her retirement are “ridiculous.”
“That’s ridiculous. She was elected. She served admirably,” Manchin said to CNN. “We’ve had other members gone for a year or more at times, and no one called for their resignation.”
SCHUMER REVEALS HIS PICK TO FILL IN FOR FEINSTEIN ON JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Feinstein, who has been absent since February, requested that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) name a temporary replacement on the panel to keep President Joe Biden‘s more controversial nominees rolling through the approval process. Schumer said he will move on Tuesday afternoon to add Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) temporarily to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Republicans already said they’d reject Feinstein’s request to step down from the high-profile panel temporarily.
With Manchin’s disapproval and growing opposition from Republicans, it appears Democrats won’t have the 60 votes needed to approve an organizing resolution to replace Feinstein with another Democrat.
Democrats have been confronted with tough questions over the past couple of years about Feinstein’s career. The 89-year-old faced pressure to step down as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee during Trump’s presidency. She also passed up the role of Senate pro tempore, which typically is a title given to the most senior member of the majority party. Some Republicans are now pointing to these events as a reason why they won’t support a vote to replace her on the panel temporarily.
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“During the past two years, there has been a concerted campaign to force her off the committee. I think that’s wrong, and I won’t be part of that,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) to reporters on Monday.
With Feinstein’s absence and Republican opposition to replace her temporarily, the Judiciary Committee now has an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, paralyzing some Democratic nominees.
