WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the oldest member of Congress, fell in her residence and went to a hospital for a short while, her workplace mentioned on Wednesday.
The 90-year-old California Democrat, who has confronted mounting issues about her well being and her potential to carry out the duties of a senator, “briefly went to the hospital yesterday afternoon as a precaution after a minor fall in her home,” her workplace mentioned in an announcement.
All of her scans have been clear, and he or she returned residence later Tuesday, mentioned her spokesman Adam Russell, who supplied no additional particulars.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York mentioned in an announcement he spoke with Feinstein on Wednesday morning.
“She said she suffered no injuries and briefly went to the hospital as a precaution,” Schumer mentioned. “I’m glad she is back home now and is doing well.”
The San Francisco hospital go to comes after Feinstein missed months of labor in Washington earlier this 12 months when she was hospitalized for the shingles virus and its uncomfortable side effects. Since her return to work in May, she has traveled the Capitol halls in a wheelchair and has usually appeared confused and disoriented.
Feinstein has defended her potential to carry out her job, although her workplace mentioned in May that she was nonetheless experiencing imaginative and prescient and stability impairments from the shingles virus.
Feinstein, who took workplace in 1992, introduced earlier this 12 months that she wouldn’t search reelection in 2024. Several Democrats have already entered the race to switch her.
During her hospitalization within the spring, some progressive House Democrats publicly known as on her to resign, saying her absence had grounded the push to substantiate President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees. However, main Democrats, together with Biden and Schumer, publicly stood beside her.
Nonetheless, Feinstein’s retirement plans have sparked a aggressive Democratic contest to switch her, led by a trio of House lawmakers, U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff.
If Feinstein resigns earlier than the 2024 election, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom would title her substitute, probably reordering the race to succeed her. The governor mentioned in 2021 that he would nominate a Black girl to fill the seat if Feinstein, who’s white, have been to step apart.
Lee is Black, and changing into the incumbent could possibly be a decisive benefit within the contest, however it’s unknown if Newsom would take into account Lee, provided that she is already operating for the seat. Porter and Schiff are white.
Feinstein has had a storied political profession that broke gender boundaries as she rose from San Francisco’s City Hall to management posts within the U.S. Senate. She performed key roles in political battles over points together with reproductive rights and environmental safety, gaining a popularity as a practical centrist.
In latest years, nevertheless, she has taken a step again from senior roles on the Capitol. She relinquished the highest Democratic spot on the Judiciary Committee in 2020 amid criticism from liberals on how she dealt with the affirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. And earlier this 12 months, she declined to function the Senate president professional tempore, essentially the most senior member of the bulk get together who every day opens the Senate chamber, although she was in line to take action.
Feinstein had additionally requested to get replaced on the Senate Judiciary panel throughout her 10-week hospital keep earlier this 12 months, however Republicans declined to permit the substitute. Even after she returned, issues continued that she wouldn’t be capable of make it for each essential vote.
The Senate is predicted to renew work in Washington in early September.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com”