[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 163 (Wednesday, October 4, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4955-S4956]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SENATE RESOLUTION 400--HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF DIANNE 
        FEINSTEIN, THE LATE SENATOR FOR THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

  Mr. PADILLA (for himself, Ms. Butler, Mr. Schumer, Mr. McConnell, Ms. 
Baldwin, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. 
Booker, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Braun, Mrs. Britt, Mr. Brown, Mr. Budd, Ms. 
Cantwell, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Carper, Mr. Casey, Mr. Cassidy, 
Ms. Collins, Mr. Coons, Mr. Cornyn, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Cotton, Mr. 
Cramer, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Daines, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Durbin, Ms. 
Ernst, Mr. Fetterman, Mrs. Fischer, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Graham, Mr. 
Grassley, Mr. Hagerty, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Hawley, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. 
Hickenlooper, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Hoeven, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Johnson, Mr. 
Kaine, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Lankford, 
Mr. Lee, Mr. Lujan, Ms. Lummis, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Markey, Mr. Marshall, 
Mr. Menendez, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Moran, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. 
Murphy, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Ossoff, Mr. Paul, Mr. Peters, Mr. Reed, Mr. 
Ricketts, Mr. Risch, Mr. Romney, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Rubio, Mr. 
Sanders, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Schmitt, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Scott of 
South Carolina, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Sinema, Ms. Smith, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
Sullivan, Mr. Tester, Mr. Thune, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Tuberville, Mr. Van 
Hollen, Mr. Vance, Mr. Warner, Mr. Warnock, Ms. Warren, Mr. Welch, Mr. 
Whitehouse, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Young) submitted the 
following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 400

       Whereas Dianne Feinstein was born on June 22, 1933, in San 
     Francisco, California;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein graduated from Convent of the 
     Sacred Heart High School in 1951 and from Stanford University 
     in 1955;
       Whereas, while at Stanford University, Dianne Feinstein 
     established the first chapter of Young Democrats and was 
     elected student body vice president, the highest office a 
     woman could hold at that time;
       Whereas, in 1960, California Governor Pat Brown, having 
     read a paper about criminal justice that Dianne Feinstein 
     wrote as a fellow at the Coro Foundation in San Francisco, 
     California, named her to the California Women's Board of 
     Terms and Parole, the first position in public service she 
     would hold;
       Whereas, on November 5, 1969, Dianne Feinstein was first 
     elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and, having 
     received the most votes, became the first female President of 
     the Board;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein became the first female mayor of 
     San Francisco, California, on November 27, 1978, a position 
     to which she was subsequently re-elected twice;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein, in the face of tremendous 
     personal loss, demonstrated great strength and leadership in 
     helping unite and heal San Francisco, California, in the 
     aftermath of the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and 
     Supervisor Harvey Milk, after the White Night riots and the 
     Jonestown massacre, through the AIDS crisis, and through 
     multiple assassination attempts on her own life;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein saved the famed cable cars of San 
     Francisco, California, and secured funding to rebuild the 
     system in time for the 1984 Democratic National Convention 
     held in San Francisco;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein became the first woman to 
     represent the State of California in the Senate when she was 
     elected on November 3, 1992, in what became known as the 
     ``Year of the Woman'', and, with former Senator Barbara 
     Boxer, formed the first pair of female Senators to represent 
     any State in the history of the United States;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein was re-elected to the Senate by 
     the people of the State of California 5 more times, including 
     in 2012 when she received the most popular votes for any 
     Senate candidate in the history of the United States;
       Whereas, while serving in the Senate, Dianne Feinstein 
     became--
       (1) one of the first women to serve on the Committee on the 
     Judiciary of the Senate, and the first woman to lead her 
     party on the Committee;
       (2) the first woman to chair the Committee on Rules and 
     Administration of the Senate;
       (3) the first woman to preside over a presidential 
     inauguration; and
       (4) the first woman to chair the Select Committee on 
     Intelligence of the Senate;
       Whereas, in response to numerous tragic acts of gun 
     violence in the State of California and across the United 
     States, Dianne Feinstein became a leading proponent of 
     efforts to address gun violence, including through the 
     passage of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use 
     Protection Act (commonly referred to as the ``Federal Assault 
     Weapons Ban'') (subtitle A of title XI of Public Law 103-322; 
     108 Stat. 1996);
       Whereas the singular leadership and determination of Dianne 
     Feinstein led to the enactment of legislation to preserve 
     millions of acres of land in the State of California, from 
     the redwoods of Headwaters Forest to San Francisco Bay and 
     Lake Tahoe;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein devoted particular attention to 
     protecting the California desert and was the driving force 
     behind the establishment of Death Valley National Park, 
     Joshua Tree National Park, the Mojave National Preserve, the 
     Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, the 
     Mojave Trails National Monument, the Sand to Snow National 
     Monument, and the Castle Mountains National Monument;

[[Page S4956]]

       Whereas Dianne Feinstein demonstrated incredible courage 
     and tenacity in spearheading the 5-year, 6,700-page report by 
     the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate on the 
     Detention and Interrogation Program of the Central 
     Intelligence Agency, and in the enactment of subsequent 
     legislation with former Senator John McCain to prohibit the 
     future use of interrogation techniques described in that 
     report;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein led congressional efforts to 
     secure marriage equality, end LGBTQ discrimination, defend 
     reproductive rights, combat violence against women, protect 
     victims of trafficking, reform our health care system, 
     provide immigration benefits for agricultural workers, 
     increase fuel economy standards, improve the safety of 
     personal care products, address nuclear waste storage, fund 
     breast cancer research, counter illicit narcotics, enhance 
     cybersecurity information sharing, increase resources to 
     fight wildfires, and manage the water supply system of the 
     State of California;
       Whereas, on March 28, 2021, Dianne Feinstein became the 
     longest-serving Senator to represent the State of California;
       Whereas, on November 5, 2022, Dianne Feinstein became the 
     longest-serving female Senator in the history of the United 
     States;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein never truly stopped being Mayor of 
     her beloved San Francisco, California;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein inspired generations of women to 
     break barriers and seek positions of leadership, to find 
     common ground in order to get things done for the people they 
     represent, and to serve with grace, strength, and integrity;
       Whereas Dianne Feinstein was a beloved sister, wife, 
     mother, and grandmother; and
       Whereas the State of California and the United States have 
     lost a trailblazing lawmaker and dedicated public servant: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That--
       (1) the Senate--
       (A) has heard with profound sorrow and deep regret the 
     announcement of the death of Dianne Feinstein, the late 
     Senator for the State of California; and
       (B) respectfully requests that the Secretary of the Senate 
     communicate this resolution to the House of Representatives 
     and transmit an enrolled copy thereof to the family of Dianne 
     Feinstein; and
       (2) when the Senate adjourns today, it stands adjourned as 
     a further mark of respect to the memory of the late Dianne 
     Feinstein.

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