Did Dianne Feinstein’s prolonged absence tarnish her legacy?

WASHINGTON —  Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s career is littered with success.

The California senator was the architect of the 1994 assault weapons ban, elevated the beloved Joshua Tree monument to national park status and oversaw the review of a 2014 congressional report about the CIA’s interrogation program under the George W. Bush administration. At 89, Feinstein is the Senate’s longest-serving woman and her tenure has earned her deep admiration and respect from both sides of the aisle.

But her prolonged health-related absence from Washington threatened her party’s agenda.

The GOP exploited Feinstein’s break from the Senate Judiciary Committee to stonewall President Biden’s judicial nominations. Without her, Democrats did not have the votes to advance his bench picks to the Senate floor. Advocates and fellow Democrats called on the Californian to end her term early so Gov. Gavin Newsom can appoint someone to carry out her duties.

The senator refused, leaving some to accuse her of clinging to power at the expense of voters. On Tuesday, she said she would come back to Washington. Still, her prolonged absence drew the ire of many, and the calls for resignation are unlikely to subside. Will her defiance undermine her legacy?

Hello, my name is Erin B. Logan. I cover national politics for the L.A. Times. This week, we are going to talk about the business of Congress and Democratic leadership.

Oh Feinstein where art thou?

After a slate of private and public mental faux pas in recent years, critics have questioned whether Feinstein is capable of serving. During a hearing for then-Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Feinstein thanked the Republican chairman for how he handled the very contested process, which some Democrats felt undercut their opposition to even considering former President Trump’s nominee weeks before an election.

This and other moments led Democratic leaders to press her to make this term her last. She relented and said she would not run for reelection. But after the senator was diagnosed with shingles in February, she stepped back from Washington to recover, imperiling Democrats’ priorities.

Biden’s judicial nominees are stuck in committee without her vote. The party’s majority in the upper chamber is so thin, legislation — including one that would raise the debt ceiling — could fail.

Senate Republicans blocked her request to have someone temporarily carry out her committee duties, requiring her to be present for floor votes.

Lawmakers — including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — called on her to step down.

Feinstein has refused, putting Democratic leadership in a bind.

Defense and offense

Her party leadership has tiptoed around the issue.

The White House in April urged patience with Feinstein’s return to work. Last Monday, Politico captured a photo showing a prepared statement from Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York that said he is “hopeful” Feinstein will return to her post this week.

In a CNN interview, host Jake Tapper pressed Senate Judiciary Chair Richard J. Durbin of Illinois on Feinstein’s absence.

Democrats, Tapper noted, did not aggressively push Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to retire when President Obama was still in office.

“How did that work out for you,” Tapper asked. “How did that work out for Roe v. Wade?”

When news of Feinstein’s return broke on Tuesday, Schumer said that he is “glad that my friend Dianne is back in the Senate and ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work.”

“After talking with her multiple times over the past few weeks, it’s clear she’s back where she wants to be and ready to deliver for California,” he added.

The latest from the campaign trail

— On Sunday the appearance was the first time Reps. Barbara Lee of Oakland, Katie Porter of Irvine and Adam B. Schiff of Burbank had appeared together since launching their 2024 Senate campaigns, underscoring just how essential labor union support will be in California’s primary next year, Times writers Benjamin Oreskes and Laurel Rosenhall reported.

— For Biden, the last few days have raised hopes that the U.S. economy can stick a soft landing — possibly avoiding a recession as the 2024 election nears, the Associated Press reported. But to the president and some economists, the April jobs report issued Friday challenged that theory with its 3.4% unemployment rate and 253,000 jobs gained.

— A jury found Donald Trump liable Tuesday for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a judgment that could haunt the former president as he campaigns to regain the White House, the Associated Press reported. The verdict was split: Jurors rejected Carroll’s allegation that she was raped, finding Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual assault.

The view from Washington

— The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new COVID-19 monitoring network won’t have the fine resolution on the coronavirus that the agency strove for during earlier stages of the pandemic, Times writer Melissa Healy reported. But it will lash together a raft of new and existing tools to keep an eye on the virus while also keeping broader tabs on the public’s health.

— Now that the declared health emergency is ending, so will Title 42 orders, Times writers Kate Morrissey and Andrea Castillo reported. Many predict border crossings will increase in the short term.

— Federal prosecutors reportedly filed criminal charges against freshman Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) on Tuesday, Times writer Noah Goldberg reported. The charges were filed under seal, according to CNN, so it was not immediately clear what crimes he is accused of committing. Questions, however, have been raised about how Santos financed his political campaign.

— House Republicans have refused to raise the $31.4-trillion debt limit unless it’s paired with discretionary spending cuts. Biden and Democrats insist they won’t negotiate on budget cuts unless Congress agrees to separately increase the borrowing limit without conditions, Times writer Courtney Subramanian reported. The pivotal meeting also marked the biggest test yet for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who needs to balance the urgency of raising the debt limit with satisfying far-right conservatives who could end his speakership.

The view from California

— The recent violence, along with Khadijah Britton’s unsolved disappearance, underscores the challenges California tribes face in stemming the crisis of missing and slain Indigenous people, Times writer Hannah Wiley reported. The centuries-long problem stretches back to white settler colonialism and the forced removal of Indian children into boarding schools, worsened by a broken foster care system and the ravages of drugs, domestic violence and human trafficking.

— California’s Reparations Task Force voted on Saturday to recommend that the state issue a formal apology for slavery and potentially provide billions of dollars in cash payments, moving forward a historic effort to enact remedies and compensation for descendants of African Americans who were enslaved in the U.S, Times writer Taryn Luna reported. The report will act as a manual for lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who established the task force in 2020 to study and gather evidence of the harms of slavery and lasting discrimination, as state elected officials begin to debate righting the wrongs of the past.

— A former high-level lawyer in the Los Angeles city attorney’s office was sentenced Tuesday to nine months of home detention and three years of probation for his role in a corruption scheme linked to billing problems at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Times writer Dakota Smith reported. Thomas Peters, of Pacific Palisades, aided and abetted an extortion scheme, he acknowledged at the courtroom hearing.

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