Dianne Feinstein conspicuously absent from Senate ahead of key votes

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein missed a Monday vote to suspend the federal debt limit and avoid a government shutdown, which could happen as soon as Friday if a new spending bill is not passed.

Forty-nine of 50 Republicans voted against the bill, which needed 60 votes to pass. Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse also missed the vote, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer switched his vote from "yes" to "no" to preserve a procedural ability to bring the legislation to the floor again.

Feinstein, 88, has missed Senate votes for a week now, and in a statement to The Hill, Forbes and others, her office said she is away "due to a family medical emergency" but "is carefully following the vote situation in the Senate and will return to Washington as soon as possible." The nature of the emergency was not specified.

The GOP blocked the legislation Monday; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says his party will force Democrats to raise the debt ceiling themselves through budget reconciliation, which requires 50 instead of 60 votes. McConnell has also said his party would be willing to back a spending bill ahead of the Friday deadline without the debt component attached to it. The country is projected to hit the debt ceiling sometime in mid-October.

In addition to funding the government and raising the debt ceiling, the Senate may also soon consider a $3.5 trillion "soft infrastructure" package central to President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda. The Senate has already passed a bipartisan $1 trillion package funding highways, internet and other "hard infrastructure" projects, but that bill has yet to pass the House.