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A confused Dianne Feinstein tried to give a speech in the middle of a Senate hearing vote and was told to 'just say aye' instead (www.businessinsider.com)

submitted 1 year ago by trashhalo@beehaw.org to c/politics@beehaw.org

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Senator Dianne Feinstein appeared confused during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday. When asked to vote on a proposal, Feinstein began giving a lengthy speech instead of simply saying "aye" or "nay" as requested. The committee chair, Senator Patty Murray, had to repeatedly tell Feinstein "just say aye" and remind her that it was time for a vote, not speeches. After some delay, Feinstein finally cast her vote. A spokesperson said Feinstein was preoccupied and did not realize a vote had been called. The incident raises further concerns about Feinstein's ability to serve at age 90, as she has made other recent mistakes and often relies on aides.

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[–] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Average life expectency goes up over time due to advancements in healthcare. Tying the retirement age to the average life expectency is effectively raising the retirement age.

[–] Kerrigor@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's actually going down in the US. And again, I said tie the office age limits to life expectancy, not retirement age.

[–] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can you please explain the difference between office age limits and retirement age?

[–] Kerrigor@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Oh sure! So "retirement age" means the age at which the general population is eligible for certain benefits like tax-deferred account withdraw without penalty, social security benefits, Medicare, etc. Politicians generally go WAY past this age, well beyond cognitive decline, because they do not want to lose power.

Office age limits are (and should continue to be) unrelated to retirement age; otherwise it creates an incentive for politicians to RAISE the retirement age even further so that they can stay in office. Republicans already try often to increase the retirement age so that people will be stuck working until they die.