[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 159 (Friday, September 29, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4804-S4805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING DIANNE FEINSTEIN

  Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, I want to offer my condolences to Dianne's 
family, to her colleagues in California, to the Speaker Emerita, to my 
colleague Senator Padilla, and to so many of our friends and colleagues 
who are watching today. I wanted to rise just because I am one of the 
newer women in the U.S. Senate, and I wanted to acknowledge the 
difference that Dianne Feinstein's example and work has made for me, 
for my constituents, for our daughters, and our granddaughters.
  When I came to the Senate, the bipartisan women's dinners were long-
established. I didn't have to think about how I would get to know my 
women colleagues and share experiences and learn the ropes from them 
because Dianne Feinstein and her other colleagues who were early 
pioneers in the Senate had already done some of that work for us. I 
didn't have to think about whether there was going to be a women's 
bathroom right off the floor that I could use just the way the men use 
their bathroom in quick moments because Dianne Feinstein and others had 
paved the way.
  I didn't have to think about whether I would be accepted in the same 
way

[[Page S4805]]

that Dianne Feinstein had to because she had already done that really 
difficult work of being that much better than everybody else to make 
sure that she never let women down and that she never let her 
constituents down.
  This morning, after Senator Murray called us and said that we are all 
going to be on the floor, I was rushing to get ready, and to Senator 
Murkowski's point, I put on different shoes than I was planning to. 
They were shoes that Dianne had admired. She had the same pair, and she 
told me they were good ones to wear.
  I wore a scarf--it is not one Dianne gave me but because I thought 
Dianne would think it would add a little something to my presence 
today. In the last few months of her service, Dianne graced us with 
her dignity and with her friendship. She had a way of sitting down next 
to me in caucus lunch and checking in. She knew I had had some 
particular caregiving challenges at home, and she would always say to 
me: Who is with Ben right now? Ben is our son. How are things with the 
family? I am not sure people really understand that women still have 
family responsibilities that aren't easily transferable.

  She wanted me always to know that we had made a lot of progress but 
that there was still progress to make. And in her way of nudging us and 
being an example for us, she was reminding us that we still have work 
to do and she was counting on us to do it.
  The last meeting that my senior Senator and I had with Dianne about 
an issue that was really important to our State and we needed a vote 
on, she had been home in California recuperating, and she had just made 
it back to the Senate. And we went to meet with her in her hideaway, 
and I, frankly, didn't know what to expect. I didn't know how her 
health would be. She had a memo--it wasn't a short one--that laid out 
the entire issue that we were there to talk to her about. She went 
through that memo, several places, and said: Well, I read here that 
this is the case, and I read there that that is the case, and you both 
are telling me that you think I should vote in a particular way.
  We went back and forth about a couple of issues. We reinforced our 
arguments, our belief in why she should vote to support our position. 
She asked us questions. She knew her stuff. She had read the memo. And 
she said for a number of reasons--and she laid them out--that she would 
vote with us.
  She had muscle memory that pulled her up to her full height. She had 
the intellectual discipline and memory to understand how to cut to the 
chase and make sure she understood the essence of the issue we were 
dealing with. And she was reminding us of what you are supposed to do 
to serve your constituents, your State, and your country as a U.S. 
Senator.
  May her memory be a blessing.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.

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