WATCH: Kirsten Gillibrand rejects calls for Dianne Feinstein to step down
Heather Hunter
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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) defended Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) against growing calls among Democratic lawmakers for the 89-year-old senator to resign amid health issues.
“She’s a team player, and she’s an extraordinary member of the Senate. It’s her right. She’s been voted by her state to be senator for six years. She has the right, in my opinion, to decide when she steps down,” Gillibrand said on CNN’s State of the Union.
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Sen. Gillibrand on CNN
Last week, Feinstein had announced on Wednesday that her return to the Senate would be delayed due to a bout of shingles. She offered to temporarily step down from the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer granted her request.
“I intend to return as soon as possible once my medical team advises that it’s safe for me to travel,” Feinstein said.
This prompted some Democratic lawmakers to call for her to step down.
“We need to put the country ahead of personal loyalty. While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said on Twitter.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) claimed Feinstein’s absence was a “dereliction of duty” in a tweet, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) retweeted the accusation.
On Thursday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) suggested the resignation calls were sexist.
“It’s interesting to me,” Pelosi said. “I don’t know what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen. Feinstein in that way. I’ve never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way.”
Feinstein has not been the only senator out on a lengthy health-related absence. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) spent two months away for inpatient treatment for clinical depression, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was hospitalized after falling at a March 8 dinner. Both Fetterman and McConnell are tentatively planning to return to the Senate this week.
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Gillibrand praised Feinstein as an “extraordinary senator” and “a role model.”
“Her legacy and her depth of experience is valuable. And we have had so many senators who have had illnesses, whether it’s [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell’s illnesses, or senators who have had strokes. These are issues that — we’re human,” Gillibrand told CNN host Jake Tapper on Sunday.