[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 159 (Friday, September 29, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4799-S4800]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING DIANNE FEINSTEIN

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask that the Senate observe a moment 
of silence in honor of Senator Dianne Feinstein.
  (Moment of silence.)
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President--the first woman President pro tempore 
of the U.S. Senate--earlier this morning, we lost a giant in the 
Senate.
  Senator Dianne Feinstein was one of the most amazing people whoever 
graced the Senate, whoever graced the country. She had so many amazing, 
wonderful qualities wrapped up in one incredible human being. She was 
smart. She was strong. She was brave. She was compassionate.
  But maybe the trait that stood out most of all was her amazing 
integrity. Her integrity was a diamond. Her integrity shone like a 
beacon across the Senate and across the country for all to see and, 
hopefully, emulate.
  Dianne Feinstein would typically say, when you asked her how was she 
voting on something: Let me study this issue before taking a position. 
Let me go home and read on it. And when she came back, if she believed 
the cause or the vote was right and vital to any issue she cared about, 
she not only voted for it, there was no stopping her in getting it 
done.
  She would take on any force, any special interest, any opponent with 
relentless integrity and would wear those opponents down until she 
succeeded. Again, her integrity just shown through them. And she won 
and she won and she won and each time made the country a better place.
  I saw this up close when she passed the assault weapons ban, a 
passion of hers after what happened to her in California. The NRA was a 
relentless, often mean-spirited and chauvinistic foe. They oozed 
vitriol against her. But they didn't scare her. They didn't stop her. 
And they failed against her. Like most of her opponents, they failed 
against her. Her perseverance, her strength, and most of all her 
integrity shown through.
  I was privileged to carry the bill in the House after she had passed 
it in the Senate. She guided me every step of the way, and her strength 
and her integrity strengthened all of us who were fighting that uphill 
fight.
  As we went through that bill, it became clear to me, Dianne Feinstein 
is not like the others. She is in a class of her own.
  Of course, it wasn't just the assault weapons ban she fought her. Her 
accomplishments also included championing the Violence Against Women 
Act, protecting oversight authority during the investigation into U.S. 
torture, fighting for climate justice, fighting for marriage equality, 
fighting for reproductive justice--the list goes on and on.
  As chair of the Intelligence Committee, Dianne fought for what was 
right. Even if it was hard and difficult and took months and years to 
dig in and find out what actually went wrong, she never stopped.
  She took on the CIA and inserted Congress's oversight authority 
during the investigation into the United States' use of torture.
  Through all of her accomplishments--this one and all the others--she 
always displayed quintessential grace and strength. None of these 
``sons of guns'' against her ever rattled her.
  I remember a few years back, when a particularly nasty Senator tried 
to put

[[Page S4800]]

Senator Feinstein down in a condescending--many would say--chauvinistic 
way. She reacted not defensively but with strength and poise and 
integrity. And within 3 minutes, she put this colleague in his place. 
By the end of it, everyone in the room, on both sides of the aisle, was 
smiling. That was Dianne to a tee--powerful, prepared, unflappable.
  She had to be. Whenever she did something, she was often the first to 
do it. She was elected as the first woman president of the San 
Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first woman to serve as mayor of 
San Francisco, the first woman to serve as U.S. Senator for California, 
the first woman to chair both the Senate Rules and Intelligence 
Committees, the first woman member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 
The list goes on and on and on and on.

  Our Nation will be forever thankful to Senator Feinstein for the 
accomplishments she fought for.
  I, too, am personally indebted to Dianne, not just as a colleague--
which, of course, I am in so many ways as a colleague--but as a friend 
and as a father of two daughters.
  Dianne's work extended far beyond the U.S. Senate floor, as she gave 
a voice, a platform, and a leader to women throughout the country for 
decades.
  Dianne didn't just push down doors that were closed for women, she 
held them open for generations of women after her to follow her.
  She gave a voice, a platform, and a model for women across the 
country who aspire to roles in leadership in public service who want to 
leave their own mark on the world, who want to make this country a 
better place for others.
  Today, there are 25 women serving in this Chamber, and every one of 
them will admit they stand on Dianne's shoulders.
  So Dianne's impact extended far beyond the Senate floor and far 
beyond politics itself.
  Today, we grieve. We look at that desk, and we know what we have 
lost. But we also give thanks--thanks to someone so rarefied, so brave, 
so graceful a presence that someone like that served in this Chamber 
for so many years.
  In closing, let me just say this: The sign of a leader is someone who 
dedicates the whole of their spirit for a cause greater than 
themselves; the sign of a hero is someone who fights for others, who 
endures for others no matter the cost, no matter the odds; and the sign 
of a friend is someone who stands by your side to fight the good fight 
on good days and on the bad.
  Dianne Feinstein was all of this and more, a friend, a hero for so 
many, a leader who changed the nature of the Senate and who changed the 
fabric of the Nation--America--for the better.
  As the Nation mourns this tremendous loss, we are comforted in 
knowing how many mountains Dianne moved, how many lives she impacted, 
how many glass ceilings she shattered along the way. America--America--
is a better place because of Senator Dianne Feinstein.
  Today, I join with my colleagues in mourning our beloved friend and 
colleague.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________