Khanna says Democrats are privately praising his Feinstein resignation call

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has been embroiled in an intra-party dispute over his call for Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) resignation, said over the weekend that Democrats have expressed support for his move in private.

Feinstein, the oldest senator in the Senate at 89 years old, has been out of the room since being given tiles in February. Democrats only have a 51-49 majority in the chamber, giving Republicans the chance to obstruct President Joe Biden’s‘s nominations and legislative initiatives with just one absence.

Tom Cotton warns the GOP neither to support Democrats’ replacement of Feinstein on the Judiary Committee.

Feinstein announced in February that she wouldn’t run for reelection in 2024, though she vowed to perform out the remaining 20 weeks of her words after decades of criticism from within her party suggesting she was no longer up to the task.

Two House Democrats, including one from her place say, called for Feinstein’s’s resignation as it became clear this week that she would not return on Monday after Senate niche. While the lifelong California lawmaker deserved praise for her illustrious political career, Khanna and Rep. Dean Phillips( D-MN) stated on Tuesday in separate claims that her health issues were impeding her ability to perform her duties.

In response to stress from her presence on Wednesday, Feinstein proposed a bargain, stating that until she returned, she would request to be replaced on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Due to Feinstein’s’s absence, the screen has been paralyzed, depriving Democrats of the necessary vote to advance Biden to the judicial nominations.

Chuck Schumer, the majority leader of the Senate( D-NY ), announced that he would request Republican support for another Democrat to join the panel next week. However, it is unclear whether the GOP will agree to the request.

Khanna claimed that he had mostly positive feedback from other lawmakers when asked how Democrats had reacted to his decision to make what many members of the party had previously said secretly to significant news outlets in recent years public.

The House Democrat stated on MSNBC on Saturday that” quite a few people have said in private[ have ] texted me ] saying they agree with that.”

He continued,” I believe most coworkers are hoping she may decide to retire on her own.” They don’t want to put her in a difficult situation, but they do have great respect for her, and they are hoping that she will make this choice with respect in order to end her illustrious work.

In the wake of the recent controversy over Feinstein’s’s ability to perform her duties, the majority of Democrats have either remained motionless or defended her. Sen. Chris Murphy and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi both gave the impression that the effort to remove the former lawmaker was motivated by sexism and politics.

The two appeared to be making reference to Sen. John Fetterman‘s’s ( D-PA ) absence from the Democratic primary, which would have seen Rep. Barbara Lee support Feinstein in his position in 2024. Lee is currently trailing Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter in polls, but she is thought to be a governor. If the senator were to resign early, Gavin Newsom’s‘s ( D – CA ) front-runner to replace Feinstein would do so. If Lee were to be chosen by Newsom, she may benefit from running for office in her primary election and probably see an increase in the elections.

In the meantime, Sen. Amy Klobuchar( D – MN) stated that she was adopting a wait-and-see strategy and may provide Feinstein about one month before reevaluating the situation.