Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that he would try to tee up a vote later today to temporarily replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on the Judiciary Committee.
He told reporters at a press conference on Monday that he wants Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., as her replacement.
Republicans are expected to block the effort. Senate committee appointments are traditionally passed via unanimous consent with little fanfare, but Schumer will likely need at least 10 GOP senators to agree as 60 votes are needed to approve the temporary change, and most GOP senators are expected to oppose the move.
Feinstein has been sidelined since early March after her office announced she was being treated for shingles at a San Francisco hospital.
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Her absence has hamstrung Democrats’ ability to confirm President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees, which the Senate had been doing at breakneck pace, and there is still no clear timeline on when she’s expected to return.
"I spoke to Senator Feinstein just last Friday. She and I are very hopeful she will return soon," Schumer told reporters on Monday. He did not elaborate on how soon that could be.
Several senior Republican lawmakers have already indicated they will not support Democrats' effort to temporarily allow her to be replaced.
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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," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters in the Senate subway on Monday evening.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a senior Republican on the Judiciary committee, indicated on the Senate floor on Monday evening that he was opposed to helping Schumer temporarily replace Feinstein.
His remarks also suggested that the GOP was only refusing to move on Democrats’ "most controversial" nominees, putting the onus on Biden to nominate more moderate picks that could get bipartisan support.
"Never, not once, have we allowed temporary substitutes on committees, and now is not the time to start. Republicans are not going to break this precedent in order to bail out Senator Schumer or the Biden administration’s most controversial nominees," Cornyn said. "Senator Feinstein has been a mainstay of this body for more than three decades, and I hope to see her back in these halls soon. But until then, President Biden’s most controversial, partisan judicial nominees would have to wait."
