[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 22, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING ELLEN TAUSCHER

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I wish to speak about the wonderful 
spirit and dedication of Ellen Tauscher, who was taken from us far too 
early on April 29, 2019. She was a one of a kind of person and very 
special to me.
  Ellen is survived by her daughter Katherine, who is an amazing young 
woman. I have seen her through some of the most difficult days and she 
has an equanimity and an ability second to none. Ellen's sisters Sally 
and Kathy and brother Jack provided very strong family support to her, 
especially at the end. She is truly loved.
  Ellen touched so many lives, and anybody who has worked with her, had 
dinner with her, drank a little California wine with her knows the 
special person she is.
  Ellen was one of the first women and the youngest woman ever at the 
age of 25 to become a member of the New York Stock Exchange in 1977.
  I was president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors at that 
time, and I can tell you, being a woman on the Stock Exchange at that 
time was a very big deal.
  Ellen was to go on to work in finance for 14 years as a successful 
investment banker and bond trader.
  A few years after she moved west, Ellen gave birth to her pride and 
joy, the wonderful Katherine Tauscher. As a new mother herself, Ellen 
struggled to find good childcare, and she used that experience to 
create the ChildCare Registry, a service to help parents check 
backgrounds of childcare centers.
  You see, that was how she was. When she saw a problem, she worked out 
a solution. When Ellen Tauscher put her mind to something, there was no 
stopping her. Achievement was a given.
  Ellen ran for a seat in Congress in 1996. The newly created district 
was conservative, and few people thought it would go to a Democrat, but 
Ellen appealed to moderates on both sides of the aisle, and success, I 
always thought, was a given. She went on to win that seat and hold it 
for 12 years.
  As a Member of Congress, Ellen made a name for herself as a centrist, 
someone who could work both sides of the aisle. Her colleagues, many of 
whom attended the memorial service earlier this week at the National 
Cathedral, knew she would always do what was best for her district and 
for the country.
  Ellen sat on the House Armed Services Committee and became chair of 
the Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Not necessarily what you would 
expect from an elementary education major from New Jersey, but Ellen 
was a real force.
  She developed an expertise and substantial knowledge in arms control, 
nonproliferation, and nuclear weapons. It was a good fit since her 
district was home to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
  That expertise and the ability to be effective in a critically 
important post was a big reason why then-Secretary of State Clinton 
selected her and President Obama nominated her to be Undersecretary of 
State for Arms Control and International Security.
  One of Ellen's biggest accomplishments in that role was shepherding 
the negotiations over the New START Treaty and helping with its 
ratification through the Senate in 2010.
  As a matter of fact, it was at her suggestion that former Senator Jon 
Kyl and I went to Geneva under the auspices of the Senate National 
Security Working Group to observe the negotiations and meet with the 
Russian and U.S. delegations. Ellen was so proud of the treaty, and so 
are we.
  She proved just how strong she was during this most difficult period. 
She did much of her work on the treaty while suffering from esophageal 
cancer, but she never let it slow her down. When she retired from the 
Federal Government, a new world would open.
  She was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the University Of 
California Board Of Regents, she chaired California's Military Advisory 
Council, and she served as vice chair of the Atlantic Council's 
Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
  Just last year, she showed she was still a player in California 
politics, working with Katie Merrill to create a Political Action 
Committee called Fight Back, and that was just what Ellen did.
  Ellen was brilliant. She was warm and loyal to her country, her 
family, and her friends, and she had a wonderful sense of humor. I saw 
this constantly over a glass of wine and dinner in Washington. She was 
always ready with something that made friends smile and even laugh.
  She was, for me, a best friend, and that will never change. Thank 
you.

                          ____________________