A visibly confused Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., appeared to lose track of the proceedings of a Senate subcommittee hearing Thursday, prompting an awkward exchange with another senator during a routine roll call.

The Senate Appropriations Committee met Thursday morning to discuss a range of bills, including Congress’ proposed $823 billion annual defense budget. About an hour into the hearing, the chair of the subcommittee, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., asked for a “vote to report the defense appropriations bill favorably, subject to amendment.” She motioned for a roll call vote, at which point the clerk called Feinstein’s name first. But instead of casting her vote, Feinstein initially began to give a speech in support of the budget.

After the clerk called Feinstein’s name, an aide huddled next to the senator, whispering instructions to her. Murray can also clearly be heard telling Feinstein to “say aye,” but Feinstein responded, “Pardon me?” Murray repeated that Feinstein should “say aye, just say aye.” But Feinstein began reading off a piece of paper instead.

“I would like to support a ‘yes’ vote on this,” Feinstein said. “It provides $823 billion. That’s an increase of $26 billion for the Department of Defense, and it funds priorities submitted —”

Feinstein was cut off by the same aide, and Murray again requested she “say aye.” Feinstein finally notched an “aye” vote.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Feinstein attributed the clip, which went viral on Twitter, to the senator being “preoccupied” after a “chaotic” committee markup period.

“Trying to complete all of the appropriations bills before recess, the committee markup this morning was a little chaotic, constantly switching back and forth between statements, votes, and debate and the order of bills,” the spokesperson wrote. “The senator was preoccupied, didn’t realize debate had just ended and a vote was called. She started to give a statement, was informed it was a vote and then cast her vote.”

SFGATE asked Murray’s office why she was instructing another senator on how to vote, and if she believed Feinstein could still effectively do her job. Murray’s office only responded to the first question, writing, “Senator Feinstein began with remarks indicating her support for the bill, and Senator Murray was offering a reminder that committee members were on a roll call vote and not yet recognizing members who wanted to comment on any bill.”

Feinstein, who turned 90 last month, has faced questions about her mental decline and fitness to serve for years. Calls for her resignation have grown considerably in recent months, due to her lengthy absence from the Senate amid a series of medical issues.

According to a petition filed on July 17 by her daughter, Katherine Feinstein, Sen. Feinstein has incurred “significant medical expenses” that haven’t been reimbursed by the trustees of her deceased husband Richard Blum’s life insurance policy — for which Feinstein is currently the sole beneficiary. The trustees in question pushed back against the Feinsteins’ allegations. The trustees’ attorney provided a statement to SFGATE that they never denied medical expense reimbursement to the senator.

“We have not been presented with any evidence showing that Katherine Feinstein has power of attorney for her mother; nor has Katherine made it clear, either in this filing or directly to my clients, why a sitting United States senator would require someone to have power of attorney over her,” the attorney wrote, in part.

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