Dianne Feinstein set to return to Senate after nearly 3-month absence

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is returning to the Senate after a nearly three-month absence due to health problems, a spokesperson said.

Feinstein is expected to cast a vote Wednesday — her first recorded vote since Feb. 16 — after having missed 91 floor votes while she recovered from shingles, according to an NBC News tally.

With Democrats holding just a single-seat advantage in the Senate, Feinstein’s absence complicated her party’s efforts to confirm some of President Joe Biden's nominees. Her absence was most pronounced on the Judiciary Committee, where an 11-10 majority became a 10-10 stalemate — frustrating Democratic efforts to confirm some judges and scuttling any plans to issue subpoenas on party-line votes.

Democrats’ efforts to temporarily replace Feinstein on the committee with Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., was blocked by Republicans last month, with many saying they could not vote to make it easier for Biden to seat judicial nominees whom they found to be radical or otherwise unacceptable.

Feinstein later disputed that her absence had in any way limited the number of nominees advanced by the committee.

“There has been no slowdown,” Feinstein wrote in a statement last week after the Judiciary Committee advanced seven less controversial nominees on a bipartisan basis. “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.”

While Feinstein was sidelined, Senate Republicans were able to pass a measure to overturn new air pollution standards on a 50-49 vote, with the help of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Biden is expected to veto it. 

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At 89, Feinstein is the Senate’s oldest member, and she had already announced her intention to retire when her term ends, in early 2025. She has served in the Senate since 1992.

The primary to fill Feinstein's safe Democratic seat is likely to be one of the marquee races next year — and her prolonged absence from the Senate has prompted some calls for her to resign early so Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom could fill her seat by appointment immediately.

The calls, which Feinstein’s defenders have decried as both sexist and ageist, may now be muted by her return.