87 Facts About Dianne Feinstein

1.

Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992.

2.

Dianne Feinstein was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969.

3.

Dianne Feinstein served as the board's first female president in 1978, during which time the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk by Dan White drew national attention.

4.

Dianne Feinstein became the state's senior senator when Alan Cranston retired in January 1993.

5.

Dianne Feinstein has been reelected five times and in the 2012 election received 7.86 million votes, the most popular votes in any US Senate election in history.

6.

Dianne Feinstein authored the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which expired in 2004.

7.

Dianne Feinstein introduced a new assault weapons bill in 2013 that failed to pass.

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8.

Dianne Feinstein is the first woman to have chaired the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee, and the first woman to have presided over a US presidential inauguration.

9.

Dianne Feinstein chaired the International Narcotics Control Caucus from 2009 to 2015 and was the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2017 to 2021, during the Trump administration.

10.

At 89, Dianne Feinstein is the oldest sitting US senator and member of Congress.

11.

In February 2023, Dianne Feinstein announced she would not seek reelection in the 2024 election.

12.

Dianne Feinstein graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in 1951 and from Stanford University in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts in history.

13.

Later, Dianne Feinstein's mother received a brain scan that found that the part of her brain responsible for "judgment" had atrophied.

14.

Dianne Feinstein was a fellow at the Coro Foundation in San Francisco from 1955 to 1956.

15.

Dianne Feinstein was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969.

16.

Dianne Feinstein was inaugurated by Chief Justice Rose Bird of the Supreme Court of California on December 4,1978, becoming San Francisco's first female mayor.

17.

Dianne Feinstein helped win federal funding for the bulk of the work.

18.

Dianne Feinstein oversaw policies to increase the number of high-rise buildings in San Francisco.

19.

Dianne Feinstein was seen as a relatively moderate Democrat in one of the country's most liberal cities.

20.

Also in 1984, Dianne Feinstein proposed banning handguns in San Francisco, and became subject to a recall attempt organized by the White Panther Party.

21.

Dianne Feinstein won the recall election and finished her second term as mayor on January 8,1988.

22.

Dianne Feinstein revealed sensitive details about the hunt for serial killer Richard Ramirez at a 1985 press conference, antagonizing detectives by publicizing details of his crimes known only to law enforcement, and thus jeopardizing their investigation.

23.

Dianne Feinstein served on the Trilateral Commission during the 1980s.

24.

Dianne Feinstein made an unsuccessful bid for governor of California in 1990.

25.

Dianne Feinstein won the Democratic Party's nomination, but lost the general election to Republican Senator Pete Wilson, who resigned from the Senate to assume the governorship.

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26.

In 1992, Dianne Feinstein was fined $190,000 for failure to properly report campaign contributions and expenditures in that campaign.

27.

Dianne Feinstein won the November 3,1992, special election to fill the Senate seat vacated a year earlier when Wilson resigned to take office as governor.

28.

Dianne Feinstein became the first female Jewish senator in the United States, though Boxer is Jewish.

29.

Dianne Feinstein was reelected in 1994,2000,2006,2012, and 2018.

30.

In October 2017, Dianne Feinstein declared her intention to run for reelection in 2018.

31.

On March 28,2021, Dianne Feinstein became the longest-serving US senator from California, surpassing Hiram Johnson.

32.

In January 2021, Dianne Feinstein filed the initial Federal Election Commission paperwork needed to seek reelection in 2024, when she will be 91.

33.

In February 2023, Dianne Feinstein decided to retire after finishing her term and not run for reelection in 2024.

34.

Hours later, Dianne Feinstein appeared to be unaware of her own retirement when speaking to a reporter.

35.

Dianne Feinstein was quickly corrected by a staffer who informed her that the retirement had already been published.

36.

Dianne Feinstein is the first woman to have chaired the Senate Rules Committee and the only woman to have chaired the Select Committee on Intelligence.

37.

Dianne Feinstein voted for Trump's $675-billion defense budget bill for FY 2019.

38.

Dianne Feinstein voted for the extension of the Patriot Act and the FISA provisions in 2012.

39.

Dianne Feinstein has supported the Affordable Care Act, repeatedly voting to defeat initiatives aimed against it.

40.

Dianne Feinstein has voted to regulate tobacco as a drug; expand the Children's Health Insurance Program; override the president's veto of adding 2 to 4 million children to SCHIP eligibility; increase Medicaid rebate for producing generic drugs; negotiate bulk purchases for Medicare prescription drugs; allow re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada; allow patients to sue HMOs and collect punitive damages; cover prescription drugs under Medicare, and means-test Medicare.

41.

Dianne Feinstein has voted against the Paul Ryan Budget's Medicare choice, tax and spending cuts; and allowing tribal Indians to opt out of federal healthcare.

42.

When Dianne Feinstein first ran for statewide office in 1990, she favored capital punishment.

43.

Dianne Feinstein co-sponsored an amendment through the Senate to the Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011 that eliminated the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit.

44.

In September 2005, Dianne Feinstein was one of five Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote against Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, saying that Roberts had "failed to state his positions on such social controversies as abortion and the right to die".

45.

On July 12,2009, Dianne Feinstein stated her belief that the Senate would confirm Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, praising her for her experience and for overcoming "adversity and disadvantage".

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46.

In February 2017, Dianne Feinstein requested that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch provide information on cases in which he had assisted with decision-making regarding either litigation or craft strategy.

47.

Dianne Feinstein did not refer the allegation to the FBI until September 14,2018, after the Senate Judiciary Committee had completed its hearings on Kavanaugh's nomination and "after leaks to the media about [the Ford allegation] had reached a 'fever pitch'".

48.

Dianne Feinstein faced "sharp scrutiny" for her decision to keep quiet about the Ford allegation for several weeks; she responded that she kept the letter and Ford's identity confidential because Ford had requested it.

49.

Dianne Feinstein stepped down from her position on the Judiciary Committee after pressure from progressives due to her performance at the Supreme Court nomination hearings of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in October 2020.

50.

In September 2016, Dianne Feinstein backed the Obama administration's plan to sell more than $1.15 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia.

51.

Dianne Feinstein met with representatives of technology companies, including Google and Facebook, in January 2012.

52.

In October 2013, Dianne Feinstein criticized the NSA for monitoring telephone calls of foreign leaders friendly to the US In November 2013, she promoted the FISA Improvements Act bill, which included a "backdoor search provision" that allows intelligence agencies to continue certain warrantless searches as long as they are logged and "available for review" to various agencies.

53.

In June 2013, Dianne Feinstein called Edward Snowden a "traitor" after his leaks went public.

54.

In 2020, Dianne Feinstein co sponsored the EARN IT act, which seeks to create a 19-member committee to decide a list of best practices websites must follow to be protected by section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

55.

Dianne Feinstein introduced the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which became law in 1994 and expired in 2004.

56.

Dianne Feinstein has opposed a number of reforms to cannabis laws at the state and federal level.

57.

Dianne Feinstein cited her belief that cannabis is a gateway drug in voting against the amendment.

58.

In 2018, Dianne Feinstein softened her views on marijuana and cosponsored the STATES Act, legislation that would protect states from federal interference regarding both medical and recreational use.

59.

Dianne Feinstein supported legislation in 2015 to allow medical cannabis to be recommended to veterans in states where its use is legal.

60.

In September 2017, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Dianne Feinstein admitted the legality of the program was questionable while citing this as a reason for why a law should be passed.

61.

In July 2017, Dianne Feinstein voted for the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act that grouped together sanctions against Iran, Russia and North Korea.

62.

Dianne Feinstein called for the US to "quickly engage North Korea in a high-level dialogue without any preconditions".

63.

Dianne Feinstein has criticized Beijing's missile tests near Taiwan and has called for dismantlement of missiles pointed at the island.

64.

Dianne Feinstein promoted stronger business ties between China and Taiwan over confrontation, and suggested that the US patiently "use two-way trade across Taiwan Strait as a platform for more political dialogue and closer ties".

65.

Dianne Feinstein believes that deeper cross-strait economic integration "will one day lead to political integration and will ultimately provide the solution" to the Taiwan issue.

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66.

On January 9,2018, Dianne Feinstein caused a stir when, as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she released a transcript of its August 2017 interview with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson about the dossier regarding connections between Trump's campaign and the Russian government.

67.

Dianne Feinstein did this unilaterally after the committee's chairman, Chuck Grassley, refused to release the transcript.

68.

Dianne Feinstein was selected to serve as one of the four chairs of the 1980 Democratic National Convention.

69.

Dianne Feinstein endorsed former Vice President Walter Mondale during the 1984 presidential election.

70.

Days after Obama amassed enough delegates to win the nomination, Dianne Feinstein lent her Washington, DC, home to Clinton and Obama for a private one-on-one meeting.

71.

Dianne Feinstein did not attend the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver because she had fallen and broken her ankle earlier in the month.

72.

Dianne Feinstein chaired the United States Congress Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and acted as mistress of ceremonies, introducing each participant at the 2009 presidential inauguration.

73.

Dianne Feinstein is the first woman to have presided over a US presidential inauguration.

74.

Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Dianne Feinstein was one of 16 female Democratic senators to sign an October 20,2013, letter endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.

75.

Dianne Feinstein cited her legislative agenda as well as family matters following her husband's death as reasons for declining the role, which went to Patty Murray instead.

76.

Dianne Feinstein was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Golden Gate University in San Francisco on June 4,1977.

77.

Dianne Feinstein was awarded the Legion of Honour by France in 1984.

78.

Dianne Feinstein received with the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service from the Woodrow Wilson Center of the Smithsonian Institution on November 3,2001, in Los Angeles.

79.

In 2002, Dianne Feinstein won the American Medical Association's Nathan Davis Award for "the Betterment of the Public Health".

80.

Dianne Feinstein was named as one of The Forward 50 in 2015.

81.

In 1962, shortly after beginning her career in politics, Dianne Feinstein married her second husband, neurosurgeon Bertram Dianne Feinstein, who died of colon cancer in 1978.

82.

In 2003, Dianne Feinstein was ranked the fifth-wealthiest senator, with an estimated net worth of $26 million.

83.

Dianne Feinstein had an artificial cardiac pacemaker inserted at George Washington University Hospital in January 2017.

84.

Dianne Feinstein said there was no cause for concern and that she had no plans to leave the Senate.

85.

In March 2023, Dianne Feinstein was diagnosed with shingles, sparking concern about whether she would return to the Senate.

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86.

Dianne Feinstein said she would request temporary removal from the Judiciary Committee, but resisted calls to resign.

87.

The 2019 film The Report, about the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into the CIA's use of torture, extensively features Dianne Feinstein, portrayed by Annette Bening.