09.29.23

Cantwell On Feinstein’s Legacy: “The Nation Has Lost a Legislative Giant”

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) delivered a speech on the floor of the Senate honoring the legacy of the late U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), whose passing was announced this morning.

“I want people to know the nation has lost a legislative giant. Women have lost a hero. And the Senate has lost a true colleague,” Sen. Cantwell said.

“For me, as a young member coming here more than 20 years ago, I was amazed and astounded at what I might call the polite pushiness of Dianne Feinstein. I don't know how she did it, but serving on the Judiciary Committee with her … when Dianne’s time ran out and somebody tried to cut in and debate her, Dianne had this way of saying, ‘Mr. Chairman, this is a really important point and I just need to make this point,’ and the chairman would let Dianne go on for another five minutes. And I thought, ‘how does she pull this off?’

I’ll tell you how she pulled it off: because people knew she was serious about legislating. She was serious about working across the aisle -- and probably in my early days here forged the greatest impression of what working across the aisle was really all about,” Sen. Cantwell continued.

“For women, we didn't really know how to get all of this done here -- how hard you push, how loud you can be, how much you can just get in here and grind away sometimes. And Dianne showed us that, yes, we could be trailblazers and do it. And that the results really, really, really, really matter for people. So I hope that people will remember that legacy of her -- and the kindness that went along with it.”

Over more than two decades as colleagues in Congress, Sen. Cantwell and Sen. Feinstein partnered together to advance multiple legislative priorities. They worked to enhance the country’s emergency preparedness in the face of natural disasters, urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to strengthen its rapid earthquake warning system, and championing legislation supporting controlled burns to help prevent wildfires from destroying homes and livelihoods as the climate crisis worsened in the West. The two lawmakers were also fierce advocates for American consumers, working together to advocate for the importance of net neutrality to the FCC, prevent energy price manipulation in the wake of the Enron crisis and more recently through the Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act, and place repeated pressure on regulatory commissions to provide stronger oversight of energy and commodities markets.

Video of Sen. Cantwell’s floor speech is available HERE, audio HERE, and a transcript HERE.