Senator Dianne Feinstein hospitalized in California, leaving Democrats without Senate majority

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California has been hospitalized with shingles.

“I was diagnosed with shingles during my February vacation,” Feinstein, 89, who said she will retire when her term expires next year, said in a statement to several outlets including the Los Angeles Times and KFSN-TV.

“I was hospitalized, I am being treated in San Francisco and I expect a full recovery. I hope to return to the Senate at the end of this month,” the statement said.

The absence of Feinstein and fellow Democrat Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania means that the Democratic majority in the Senate (51-49) has temporarily disappeared.

With 98 sitting senators, there will be 49 Democrats and 49 Republicans. At least on paper.

However, Senate math is fluid because there have been other absences besides Fetterman and Feinstein, the Washington Examiner notes.

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon missed the vote this week after his mother died on Monday. Last month, Democratic Senator Bob Casey missed several votes when he underwent surgery for prostate cancer.

The Republicans lost one man due to the absence of Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho, meaning the House was 48-48 for most of the week.

Despite nominal equality, Democrats can still enjoy functional majority status. Vice President Kamala Harris can cast the deciding vote to get judge nominations through the Senate.

Feinstein has represented California since 1992. Democratic Representatives Kathy Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee said they would campaign for her seat next year, according to the LA Times.

Feinstein, Biden and Fetterman are proof that Democrats don’t care about your physical condition or whether you can even do your job. They care about POWER. They care about their numbers.

So why do you ever think they care about you?

— Veteran Wayne (@Gottabfishin) March 3, 2023

Hugh Gurdon, editor-in-chief of the Washington Examiner, indicated that he believes Washington is undergoing major changes with a new political landscape.

“Things have changed for the better on Capitol Hill. Republicans are passing legislation, which hasn’t been seen since 2020, and there’s a sweet, albeit limited, measure of bipartisanship that hasn’t been seen throughout the dismal tenure of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (R-Calif.),” he wrote in Op-Ed.

“It’s not just that the Republicans now have a majority in the House of Representatives and that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), as Karl Rove pointed out, has restored order and respect between the aisles. It’s not that Democrats in the House of Representatives are helping to pass GOP legislation, let alone grateful that a minority is no longer treated with disdain,” he wrote.

“Republican legislation is being passed rather because McCarthy is holding his once capricious conference — he has only five votes left — and because the Democrats have lost their majority in the Senate,” he wrote.

Gurdon noted that Senate Democrats show an independent mindset, as evidenced by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and John Tester of Montana’s support for a Democratic-opposed resolution that blocks a rule that defines how pension fund managers should invest.

“Biden wouldn’t have this problem if Democrats were less inclined to support staggering candidates for jobs they clearly can’t do. This makes clear the priority that Democrats give to winning elections over good governance,” he wrote.

This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.

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