Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse says simply that “Hillary gets it” in amplifying former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s view that Sen. Dianne Feinstein is stuck and can’t retire from the Senate, despite ill health.
The people of California elected Feinstein to office “not very long ago,” Clinton said, and fulfilling those duties until the next election is part of the deal.
Clinton emphasized that Feinstein’s role on the powerful Judiciary Committee is key to why she can’t retire. Clinton explains that “if we’re going to get judges confirmed, which is one of the most important continuing obligations that we have, then we cannot afford to have her seat vacant.”
In the event of Feinstein’s retirement, the GOP would attempt to block a replacement using tactics they’ve already proven a willingness to use, according to Sen. Whitehouse, who writes that:
“The same rule Republicans used to block replacing Dianne on Judiciary while she was ill can also be used if she fully resigns from committee or from Senate.”
Hillary gets it: the same rule Republicans used to block replacing Dianne on Judiciary while she was ill can also be used if she fully resigns from committee or from Senate. https://t.co/Ow5hWiPCeY
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) May 24, 2023
Clinton implied that the situation would be different if there weren’t such deep division between the parties and if protocol still held that mutual respect should be accorded to each side of the aisle.
“If Republicans were to say and do the decent thing and say, well this woman was gravely ill, she had just lost her husband to cancer — of course we will let you fill this position if she retires. But they won’t say that,” Clinton told Charlotte Alter of Time magazine, at the Chicago Humanities Festival. “All these people pushing her to retire — fine, we get no more judges?”
