Sen. Alex Padilla said members of Congress have a responsibility to disclose health issues to their constituents when they could lead to prolonged absences.
“HIPAA is in place for a reason, but I do think when you’re in elected office, particularly as a member of Congress, there is that sort of responsibility as part of that public service to communicate a little bit more, if nothing else to give anticipated time frames for being able to return to work,” Padilla said on the On NOTUS podcast.
Padilla’s comments come after Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office released a statement explaining that his weekslong absence from the Capitol stemmed from a fall and “a mild case of pneumonia.”
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Padilla also served with former California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose absence from the Senate Judiciary Committee while recovering from shingles in 2023 stalled confirmation votes for some of President Joe Biden’s nominees.
“Transparency, disclosure is always a good thing,” Padilla said.
Ahead of Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche, Padilla said Blanche has not stopped serving as the president’s personal attorney, and has not exhibited independence while serving as acting attorney general.
“Obviously, he’s choosing to take up the political agenda of retribution against perceived political enemies of the president, he shouldn’t be the attorney general of the United States,” Padilla said.
Padilla criticized Trump’s decision to purge members of the Election Assistance Commission, which he said was driven by the president’s fixation on electoral conspiracy theories.
Looking ahead to November, Padilla said he would not rule out that Trump might contest the results of the midterm elections.
“On Jan. 5, 2021, nobody would have imagined a violent insurrection in our nation’s capital, and then Jan. 6 happened,” Padilla said. “So I wouldn’t put anything past Donald Trump and his desperate attempt to try to hold on to power.”
“Without a professional EAC to counter his lies, to counter his steps,” Padilla said, “we have to be that much more on guard between now and November.”
Inside the Democratic Party, Padilla said there has been “introspection” since the 2024 presidential campaign, and there is an agreement to focus on cost of living.
“I think among the things that everybody’s been agreeing with and being more vocal about is paying attention to the bread-and-butter issues, and not always get drawn into only the culture wars,” Padilla said. “That’s what Republicans and Trump and MAGA want us to play.”
While he would not speculate about potential 2028 candidates, Padilla said he agreed with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s opposition to a proposed billionaire tax in California in favor of a national wealth tax.
“I think that’s a solution that, in part, addresses the concern of, are billionaires just going to pick up their bags and move to another state and take their tax dollars to another state,” Padilla said.
The former rocket engineer also said he is “somewhere in the middle” in the push to regulate or ban the construction of data centers.
“You shouldn’t plan AI data centers with technology that consumes a lot of water, for example, in an area that’s already experiencing severe drought,” Padilla said. “But other geographic areas may be a little more conducive to, or on the electricity side, so it’s not saying yes or no completely and blindly, it’s about taking these things into consideration.”
On NOTUS is a weekly podcast where NOTUS reporters talk to lawmakers about their work in Washington and what motivates them. You can download or listen here.
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