Democrat calls for congressional policy to address 'infirm' lawmakers like Fetterman, Feinstein

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Rep. Katie Porter suggests new congressional policy to deal with 'infirm' lawmakers like Feinstein, Fetterman

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., told CNN this week that "change is overdue" in regard to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., still holding office at 89 years of age while dealing with serious health issues.

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., told CNN Thursday that "change is overdue" in regard to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., still holding office at 89 years of age while dealing with serious health issues, and called for changes to address "infirm" lawmakers like her and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.

The congresswoman, who is running to replace Feinstein in the Senate in 2024, noted that it is well past time for new leadership in that position, and advocated for new congressional policies that would account for "infirm" members of the body that are absent for periods of time.

Porter’s comments were made just days after Feinstein returned to the U.S. Senate after a nearly three-month long absence. She also surprisingly invoked Fetterman, whose health issues from a stroke and clinical depression have been well-documented.

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Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., talks to CNN about Sen. Dianne Feinstein's return to office after a long leave of absence.

Feinstein took a leave of absence to deal with a shingles diagnosis earlier this year. Upon her return, Feinstein generated headlines for apparently forgetting that she had been gone when asked about her time away by a reporter. There have been other reports in recent years of her forgetting names and faces.

She insisted to the reporter, "I haven’t been gone. You should ... I haven’t been gone. I’ve been working." When asked whether she was referring to working from home, the lawmaker asserted, "No, I’ve been here. I’ve been voting. Please, either know or don’t know."

CNN's Poppy Harlow asked Porter if it concerned her and if she believes the senator is fit to serve "right now."

"Well, obviously California needs a different senator going forward, that’s why I was the first to announce, even before Senator Feinstein had made her decision about whether to run for re-election. I launched my campaign back in January ‘cause I think this change is overdue," Porter said.

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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) escorts Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) as she arrives at the U.S. Capitol following a long absence due to health issues on May 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Feinstein has announced that she will not be seeking re-election after her term expires.

Porter continued, claiming she hasn’t spoken to Feinstein since her return: "So I’m not able to comment on how she’s doing in her recovery, but I do think that the Senate and our country needs to look forward and think about, how are we going to address these issues going forward?"

"We’re going to have more people who are absent, we’re going to have more people who fall sick, we are going to have more Senators who age given the age of the body," Porter said. "And I think we need some forward-looking policies, not just focus on Senator Feinstein – although I understand the concerns – but really look at how we’re going to deal with this structurally."

Porter added: "This is unfortunately not the first time that we’ve had this situation where we had real concerns about how senators are recovering and whether they’re able to come back and really do the job."

"Just to clarify, are you suggesting an age requirement or an age cutoff?" Harlow asked.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., questions Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 22, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The congresswoman explained she was not talking about an age limit specifically: "I don’t think it’s necessarily an age cutoff. I think that there’s not necessarily — that’s not necessarily the right approach."

Porter then pointed to another Democratic Senator who has been absent recently due to health issues: "But I do think that we are going to have people who exit the body for short periods of time. Look, we just had Senator Fetterman who was in the hospital for a couple months. We’ve had senators who have had children. If we elect more women, we might have more. And so I think we do need to have some policies like every other workplace in America, to think about, what are you going to do when someone becomes infirm, either for the short term or the long term?"

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Harlow concluded: "It’s a very fair point. Who steps in and does the job when you can’t?"