California’s Dianne Feinstein returns to Senate. Here’s how she can help Democrats

Dianne Feinstein is back, and she could make a big difference in resolving the federal debt limit battle, getting judicial nominees approved and deciding the fate of Julie Su.

Though she often suffers memory loss and lacks her once-trademark savvy and energy, the California Democrat is a crucial majority-maker because of simple Senate math. Democrats control 51 of the 100 seats. The Senate Judiciary Committee has 11 Democrats and 10 Republicans.

Feinstein returned to the Senate Wednesday afternoon after flying into Washington from San Francisco Tuesday. She missed the day’s first votes and the weekly party caucus.

She was using a wheelchair when she was greeted at an outdoor Senate entrance by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The 89-year-old former mayor of San Francisco said she felt “much better.”

Feinstein then cast her first vote since February 16, in favor of confirming Glenna Wright-Gallo as an assistant education secretary. Wright-Gallo won confirmation with 52 votes.

The more crucial votes will come later, as the Senate considers whether to confirm California’s Su as U.S. labor secretary, raising the debt limit, approving judicial nominations and investigating the Clarence Thomas controversy

‘A lighter schedule’

The senator said that though she has made “significant progress” since contracting shingles, a viral infection that can cause a painful rash and other problems.

“I’m still experiencing some side effects from the shingles virus,” she said. “My doctors have advised me to work a lighter schedule as I return to the Senate. I’m hopeful those issues will subside as I continue to recover.”

Feinstein is not expected to play a key policy-making role, and recent health issues have made her less publicly active. She was in line to become the judiciary committee’s top Democrat but stepped aside. She could have been Senate President Pro Tem this year but declined.

While Feinstein’s return is a “very big deal…“I don’t see her as a big player in terms of overall strategy,” said Darrell West, vice president, governance studies at Washington’s Brookings Institution, a center-left research group.

But voting and participating in Senate business is another matter. She has staff who can help mold policy statements assist her in public. And in the Senate committees and on the floor, she only needs to indicate yea or nay.

Making a difference

Among the issues where Feinstein’s vote could make a big difference:

▪ Julie Su. The nomination is stuck. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, has expressed reservations and at least two other Democratic senators are wavering.

With Feinstein back, “Anything we do in the Senate that requires a majority is now within reach,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

The White House is sticking firmly with the former California Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. She has been criticized for her stewardship of the agency during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The state’s unemployment system was widely seen as inefficient and chaotic.

Senators often look to a nominee’s home state senators for guidance, so Feinstein’s vote, along with the support of Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., is viewed as an important signal.

▪ Debt limit. Though it generally takes 60 votes to overcome Senate obstacles, the 2021 debt limit brinkmanship ended when Republican leaders agreed to a unique maneuver to require only 51 votes to raise the limit.

If that tactic is used again, Feinstein’s vote would matter.

At the moment, almost all options appear to be in play. President Joe Biden and congressional leaders are scheduled to meet again Friday to discuss how to increase the debt ceiling.

▪ Judicial nominations. “It will make a difference with some nominees,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, top Republican on the judiciary committee member, said Wednesday.

The committee plans to consider seven candidates for the federal bench Thursday. Perhaps the most controversial will be Michael Delaney, nominated by Biden for an appeals court opening.

Some Democrats have questioned his signature on a legal brief supporting a New Hampshire law requiring minors to notify their parents if they want an abortion. Feinstein submitted written questions about the issue to Delaney in February

He’s got the support of his home state senators in New Hampshire, but it’s unclear whether he can win committee approval.

▪ Clarence Thomas. Democrats have been eager to investigate reports about the Supreme Court justice’s relationship with billionaire Harlan Crow.

Crow has taken Thomas on lavish trips, bought property from him and paid for private school tuition for Thomas’ grandnephew.

Having Feinstein back “gives us the mandate and the majority we need to seek documents and witnesses if necessary by subpoena,” said Blumenthal, a judiciary committee member. “The next steps of the investigation are now within realistic reach.”

Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, saw potential for a lot of movement on a variety of issues now that Feinstein is back.

“There are things we cannot call for a vote,” he said. “There are measures we cannot debate and vote on until we have the majority advantage.”