Senate Republicans blocked a request from Democrats to temporarily replace Senator Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee in a Tuesday evening vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had requested unanimous consent to replace Ms Feinstein on the committee. Ms Feinstein, 89, is the oldest-serving Senator and has been absent while suffering from shingles.
As a result, Ms Feinstein had requested to be temporarily removed from the committee to allow for President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations to proceed with confirmation votes.
Democrats have a 51-49 majority, meaning that Ms Feinstein’s absence will cause judicial nominations to be deadlocked in committee, as was the case when the Senate was split 50-50 in the previous Congress.
But Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the committee, objected to a request for unanimous consent. Many Republicans had also criticised the ploy to temporarily replace Ms Feinstein with Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland.
Mr Schumer excoriated Mr Graham in a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said: “Few have accomplished as much in office as Senator Feinstein. Our colleague and friend has made her wish clear, that another Senator temporarily serve on the Judiciary Committee until she returns. I thank Senator Cardin for agreeing to step in.
“So today, I am acting not just as Leader but as Dianne’s friend in honoring her wishes until she returns to the Senate,” he said. “When someone as dear and as accomplished as Senator Feinstein asks us for something so important to her, we ought to respect it.”
Mr Graham was not alone in his criticism.
“Senator Feinstein has been an extraordinary senator, and she's a good friend of mine,” Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine told reporters on Monday about attempts to remove Ms Feinstein temporarily from the committee. “During the past two years, there's been a concerted campaign to force her off of the Judiciary Committee, and I will have no part of that.”
Ms Feinstein’s absence comes as Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman returned to the Senate on Monday after he had spent six weeks undergoing treatment for depression.
Earlier this year, Ms Feinstein announced she would not seek re-election.
