Political positions of Dianne Feinstein

Last updated

I sometimes say that in my last life maybe I was Chinese. [37]

Feinstein had criticized Beijing's missile tests near Taiwan and has called for dismantlement of missiles pointed at the island. [37] [38] She promoted stronger business ties between China and Taiwan over confrontation, and suggested that the U.S. patiently "use two-way trade across Taiwan Strait as a platform for more political dialogue and closer ties." [38]

She believed that deeper cross-strait economic integration "will one day lead to political integration and will ultimately provide the solution" [38] to the Taiwan issue.

In November 2017, in response to efforts by China to purchase tech companies based in the US, Feinstein was one of nine senators to cosponsor a bill that would broaden the federal government's ability to prevent foreign purchases of U.S. firms through increasing the strength of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The scope of the CFIUS would be expanded to allow it to review along with possibly decline smaller investments and add additional national security factors for CFIUS to consider including if information about Americans would be exposed as part of transactions or whether the deal would facilitate fraud. [39]

On July 27, 2018, reports surfaced that a Chinese staff member who worked as Feinstein's personal driver, gofer and liaison to the Asian-American community for 20 years, was caught reporting to China's Ministry of State Security. [40] [41] According to the reports, Feinstein was contacted by the FBI five years ago warning her about the suspected employee. The employee was later interviewed by authorities and forced to retire by Feinstein. [42] No criminal charges were filed against the individual. [40]

Iran

In July 2015, Feinstein announced her support for the Iran nuclear deal framework, tweeting that the deal would usher in "unprecedented & intrusive inspections to verify cooperation" on the part of Iran. [43]

On June 7, 2017, Feinstein and Senator Bernie Sanders issued dual statements urging the Senate to forgo a vote for sanctions on Iran in response to the Tehran attacks that occurred earlier in the day. [44]

In May 2018, Feinstein was one of twelve senators to sign a letter to President Trump urging him to remain in the Iran nuclear deal on the grounds that "Iran could either remain in the agreement and seek to isolate the United States from our closest partners, or resume its nuclear activities" if the US pulled out and that both possibilities "would be detrimental to our national security interests." [45]

Iraq

Feinstein supported the Iraq war resolution in the vote of October 11, 2002; she has since claimed that she was misled by President Bush on the reasons for going to war. However, former UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq Scott Ritter has stated that Feinstein in summer 2002 acknowledged to him that she knew the Bush administration had not provided any convincing intelligence to back up its claims about the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. [46]

In February 2007, Feinstein warned Republicans not to block consideration of a measure opposing President Bush's troop increase in Iraq, saying it would be a "terrible mistake" to prevent debate on the top issue in America. [47]

In May 2007, Feinstein voted for an Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, which continued to fund the Iraq occupation without a firm timetable for withdrawal. The Senator said, "I am deeply disappointed that this bill fails to hold the President accountable for his Administration's flawed Iraq War policy. The American people have made their voices clear that there must be an exit strategy for Iraq. Yet this President continues to stubbornly adhere to more of the same." [48]

Israel

In November 2017, Feinstein was one of ten Democratic senators to sign a letter urging Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the planned demolitions of Palestinian villages Khan al-Ahmar and Susiya on the grounds that such action would further diminish efforts to seek a two-state solution and "endanger Israel's future as a Jewish democracy." [49]

In April 2019, following the Trump administration not distributing money to West Bank and Gaza, Feinstein was one of six Democratic senators to introduce a resolution restoring US humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Feinstein said in a statement, "President Trump’s refusal to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people is a strategic mistake. Denying funding for clean water, health care and schools in the West Bank and Gaza won’t make us safer. Instead it only emboldens extremist groups like Hamas and pushes peace further out of reach." [50]

North Korea

In July 2017, during an appearance on Face the Nation after North Korea conducted a second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, Feinstein said the country had proven itself to be a danger to the US and stated her disappointment with the lack of response from China. [51]

On August 8, 2017, in response to reports that North Korea had achieved successful miniaturization of nuclear warheads, Feinstein issued a statement insisting isolation of North Korea had proven ineffective and President Trump's rhetoric was not aiding in the resolve of potential conflict, additionally calling for the US to "quickly engage North Korea in a high-level dialogue without any preconditions". [52]

In September 2017, following President Trump delivering his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly in which he threatened North Korea, Feinstein released a statement disagreeing with his remarks: "Trump's bombastic threat to destroy North Korea and his refusal to present any positive pathways forward on the many global challenges we face are severe disappointments." [53]

Free speech

Feinstein was the main Democratic sponsor of the failed 2006 constitutional Flag Desecration Amendment. [54]

Feinstein voted for the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation.[ citation needed ]

In 2007, Feinstein was asked in a Fox News interview whether she would revive the Fairness Doctrine, and she replied that she was looking at it. [55]

In 2010, Feinstein voted in favor of unilateral US censorship of the Internet by voting in favor of COICA. [56] Also in 2010, Feinstein said in reference to Cablegate, "Whoever released this information should be punished severely." [57]

In 2013, Feinstein called for the immediate extradition and arrest of Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked information about the PRISM surveillance program. [58]

Railroad safety

In June 2019, Feinstein was one of ten senators to cosponsor the Safe Freight Act, a bill that would mandate all freight trains have one or more certified conductors and one certified engineer on board who can collaborate on how to protect both the train and people living near the tracks' safety. The legislation was meant to correct a rollback of the Federal Railroad Administration on a proposed rule intended to establish safety standards. [59]

Government shutdown

In March 2019, Feinstein and thirty-eight other senators signed a letter to the Appropriations Committee opining that contractor workers and by extension their families "should not be penalized for a government shutdown that they did nothing to cause" while noting that there were bills in both chambers of Congress that if enacted would provide back pay to compensate contractor employees for lost wages before urging the Appropriations Committee "to include back pay for contractor employees in a supplemental appropriations bill for FY2019 or as part of the regular appropriations process for FY2020." [60]

Gun politics

Feinstein had experienced two assassination attempts as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in which Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were killed while in office. In 1993, Feinstein, along with then-Representative Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy (who lost two of his brothers to assassination), led the fight to ban many semi-automatic firearms deemed assault weapons and restrict the sale of high capacity magazines. The ban was passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.[ citation needed ]

In 2004, when the ban was set to expire, Feinstein sponsored a 10-year extension of the ban as an amendment to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act; while the amendment was successfully added, the act itself failed. [61] The act was then revived in 2005, and, despite Feinstein's efforts, was passed without an extension of the assault weapons ban. In response to the Sandy Hook School massacre, Sen. Feinstein re-introduced legislation to reinstate the ban on assault weapons, as well as many more restrictions. [62]

Discussing why the 1994 act only prohibited the manufacture or import of assault weapons, instead of the possession and sale of them, Feinstein said on CBS-TV's 60 Minutes, "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of themMr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all inI would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here." [63]

In July 2006, Feinstein voted against the Vitter Amendment which prohibited the use of federal funds for the confiscation of lawfully-owned firearms during a disaster. [64] [65]

On April 27, 1995, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Terrorism in the United States", Feinstein stated that - in the early 1970s - she applied for, and received, a license to carry a concealed gun after she and her family were threatened and their house physically attacked by a local terrorist group named the New World Liberation Front. As Feinstein stated to the Senate panel:

"I want to just give you a personal anecdote about terrorism, because less than 20 years ago, I was the target of a terrorist group. It was the New World Liberation Front. They blew up power stations and put a bomb at my home when my husband was dying of cancer. And the bomb was set to detonate at two o'clock in the morning, but it was a construction explosive that doesn't detonate when it drops below freezing. It doesn't usually freeze in San Francisco, but on this night, it dropped below freezing, and the bomb didn't detonate. I was very lucky. But, I thought of what might have happened. Later the same group shot out all the windows of my home.
And, I know the sense of helplessness that people feel. I know the urge to arm yourself, because that's what I did. I was trained in firearms. I'd walk to the hospital when my husband was sick. I carried a concealed weapon. I made the determination that if somebody was going to try to take me out, I was going to take them with me.
Now having said all of that, that was a period of time ago, and I've watched through these 20 years as terrorism has increased, both on the far extremist left and the far extremist right in this country, and in particularly in my state--I never thought I would live in a country where we would have to put out a bomb summary every year, but we do, today." [66]

Feinstein says she surrendered the permit in 1982, once the New World Liberation Front was no longer a threat to her. [67] [68] Also in 1982, she presented the Pope with a metal cross made from 15 melted-down firearms, including her own revolver, that were turned in during a gun buyback program in San Francisco. [69]

In January 2013, Feinstein, along with Representative Carolyn McCarthy from New York, proposed a bill that would "ban the sale, transfer, manufacturing, or importation of 150 specific firearms, including semi-automatic rifles or pistols that can be used with a detachable or fixed ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds and have specific military-style features, including pistol grips, grenade launchers or rocket launchers". The bill has an exemption for 900 specific models of guns that are used in hunting and for sport. [70] Feinstein commented on the issue saying, "Massacres have taken place in businesses, law practices, malls, movie theaters, and especially schools. These massacres don't seem to stop, they continue on. Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Tuson, and Oak Creek. The common thread in each of these shootings is the gunman used a semi-automatic assault weapon or large capacity ammunition magazines. Military assault weapons only have one purpose and in my opinion, it's for the military." [71]

In January 2016, Feinstein was one of eighteen senators to sign a letter to Thad Cochran and Barbara Mikulski requesting that the Labor, Health and Education subcommittee hold a hearing on whether to allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to fund a study of gun violence and "the annual appropriations rider that some have interpreted as preventing it" with taxpayer dollars. The senators noted their support for taking steps "to fund gun-violence research, because only the United States government is in a position to establish an integrated public-health research agenda to understand the causes of gun violence and identify the most effective strategies for prevention." [72]

In response to the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, Feinstein called it a "terrible terrorist attack", and offered to work with federal agencies to provide resources. [73]

Following the Las Vegas shooting in October 2017, Feinstein was one of twenty-four senators to sign a letter to National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins espousing the view that it was critical the NIH "dedicate a portion of its resources to the public health consequences of gun violence" at a time when 93 Americans die per day from gun-related fatalities and noted that the Dickey Amendment did not prohibit objective, scientific inquiries into shooting death prevention. [74]

In January 2019, Feinstein was one of forty senators to introduce the Background Check Expansion Act, a bill that would require background checks for either the sale or transfer of all firearms including all unlicensed sellers. Exceptions to the bill's background check requirement included transfers between members of law enforcement, loaning firearms for either hunting or sporting events on a temporary basis, providing firearms as gifts to members of one's immediate family, firearms being transferred as part of an inheritance, or giving a firearm to another person temporarily for immediate self-defense. [75]

In February 2019, Feinstein was one of thirty-eight senators to sign a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham calling on him to "hold a hearing" on universal background checks and noted Graham's statement in the press that he "intended to have the Committee work on ‘red flag’ legislation and potentially also background checks, both actions" the senators indicated their support for. [76]

In June 2019, Feinstein was one of four senators to cosponsor the Help Empower Americans to Respond (HEAR) Act, legislation that would ban suppressors from being imported, sold, made, sent elsewhere or possessed and grant a suppressor buyback program as well as include certain exceptions for current and former law enforcement personnel and others. The bill was intended to respond to the Virginia Beach shooting, where the perpetrator used a suppressor. [77]

Health care

Feinstein had supported the Affordable Care Act, repeatedly voting to defeat initiatives aimed against it. [78]

Feinstein had voted in favor of regulating tobacco as a drug; expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program; overriding a presidential veto on adding two to four million children to SCHIP eligibility; increasing the Medicaid rebate for producing generic drugs; negotiating bulk purchases for Medicare prescription drugs; allowing re-importation of Rx drugs from Canada; allowing patients to sue HMOs and collect punitive damages; including prescription drugs under Medicare; and Medicare means-testing. She had voted against the Paul Ryan Budget's Medicare choice and against allowing tribal Indians to opt out of federal health care. [79] [ better source needed ]

At an April 2017 town hall meeting in San Francisco, Feinstein stated, [80] "If single-payer health care is going to mean the complete takeover by the government of all health care, I am not there."

Housing

In April 2019, Feinstein was one of forty-one senators to sign a bipartisan letter to the housing subcommittee praising the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 4 Capacity Building program as authorizing "HUD to partner with national nonprofit community development organizations to provide education, training, and financial support to local community development corporations (CDCs) across the country" and expressing disappointment that President Trump's budget "has slated this program for elimination after decades of successful economic and community development." The senators wrote of their hope that the subcommittee would support continued funding for Section 4 in Fiscal Year 2020. [81]

Immigration

Feinstein was a supporter and co-sponsor of the H-1B Visa program. After strongly opposing the AgJobs immigration provisions in 2005, warning that they would encourage illegal immigration from Mexico, [82] she reversed her position, when the measures were proposed again, in 2008. [83]

In September 2017, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the rescinding of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Feinstein admitted the legality of the program was questionable while citing this as a reason for why a law should be passed. [84]

In January 2018, in her opening remarks to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Feinstein said she was concerned there might be racial motivation in the choice by the Trump administration to terminate the temporary protected status, based on comments he made denigrating African countries as well as Haiti and El Salvador. [85]

In August 2018, Feinstein was one of 17 senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen demanding that the Trump administration take immediate action in attempting to reunite 539 migrant children with their families, citing each passing day of inaction as intensifying "trauma that this administration has needlessly caused for children and their families seeking humanitarian protection." [86]

In March 2019, Feinstein voted to block President Trump's national emergency declaration that would have granted him access to $3.6 billion in military construction funding to build border barriers. [87]

Infrastructure

In February 2019, Feinstein was one of eleven senators to sign a letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen urging them "to work with all federal, state and local regulators, as well as the hundreds of independent power producers and electricity distributors nation-wide to ensure our systems are protected" and affirming that they were "ready and willing to provide any assistance you need to secure our critical electricity infrastructure." [88]

Intelligence programs and NSA programs

In 2005 Feinstein voted along the GOP to renew 14 of the 16 expiring provisions of the Patriot Act and make them permanent. [89]

In June 2012, Feinstein said that the "avalanche of leaks" occurring in relation to U.S. intelligence affairs was "very, very disturbing. You know, it's dismayed our allies. It puts American lives in jeopardy. It puts our nation's security in jeopardy".[ citation needed ]

Together with other heads of congressional oversight, Feinstein vowed to stop leaks. One week later, she co-sponsored, with Senator Saxby Chambliss, S. 3314: A bill to specifically authorize certain funds for an intelligence or intelligence-related activity and for other purposes. It is not known if this bill is related to the leak-stopping exercise.[ citation needed ]

After the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures involving operations by the National Security Agency (NSA), Feinstein took measures to continue the collection programs. Foreign Policy wrote that she had a "reputation as a staunch defender of NSA practices and the White House's refusal to stand by collection activities targeting foreign leaders". [90] In October 2013, she criticized the NSA for monitoring telephone calls of foreign leaders friendly to the US. [91] 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. [92]

In June 2013, Feinstein labeled Edward Snowden a traitor after his leaks went public. In October of that year, Feinstein stated that she stood by her labeling. [93]

On November 12, 2013, Feinstein introduced the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (S. 1681; 113th Congress). The bill would authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2014 for intelligence activities of the U.S. government. [94] The bill would authorize there to be funding for intelligence agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency or the National Security Agency, but a separate appropriations bill would also have to pass in order for those agencies to receive any money. [95] Feinstein said that "Congress has a responsibility to ensure the DNI and other intelligence leaders have the resources and flexibility they need to protect the nation." [96]

LGBT issues

Mayor Feinstein vetoed domestic partnership legislation in 1982. [97] This legislation would have provided insurance benefits to cohabitating lovers of city employees.

Feinstein introduced a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, the Respect for Marriage Act, in the 112th Congress. [98] The bill was passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 10, 2011. [99]

She introduced a private bill to keep together a bi-national same-sex couple. [100]

In September 2014, Feinstein was one of 69 members of the US House and Senate to sign a letter to then-FDA commissioner Sylvia Burwell requesting that the FDA revise its policy banning donation of corneas and other tissues by men who have had sex with another man in the preceding 5 years. [101] [102]

Marijuana

Feinstein had a "C−" rating from NORML for her voting history regarding cannabis-related causes. She considered marijuana a "gateway drug", and had opposed the legalization of medical marijuana for most of her career, although she began to shift her position. [103] In 2018, Feinstein cosponsored the bipartisan STATES Act proposed in the 115th U.S. Congress by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Colorado Senator Cory Gardner that would exempt individuals or corporations in compliance with state cannabis laws from federal enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act. [104]

Opioids

In February 2017, Feinstein and thirty other senators signed a letter to Kaléo Pharmaceuticals in response to the opioid-overdose-reversing device Evzio rising in price from $690 in 2014 to $4,500 and requested the company answer what the detailed price structure for Evzio was, the number of devices Kaléo Pharmaceuticals set aside for donation, and the totality of federal reimbursements Evzio received in the previous year. [105]

In March 2017, Feinstein was one of twenty-one senators to sign a letter led by Ed Markey to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell which noted that 12 percent of adult Medicaid beneficiaries had some form or a substance abuse disorder in addition to one third of treatment administered for opioid and other substance use disorders in the United States being financed through Medicaid and opined that the American Health Care Act could "very literally translate into a death spiral for those with opioid use disorders" due to the insurance coverage lacking and not having the adequate funds to afford care oftentimes resulting in individuals abandoning substance use disorder treatment. [106]

Trade

In May 2011, Feinstein was one of seventeen senators to sign a letter to Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler requesting a regulatory crackdown on speculative Wall Street trading in oil contracts, asserting that they had entered "a time of economic emergency for many American families" while noting that the average retail price of regular grade gasoline was $3.95 nationwide. The senators requested that the CFTC adopt speculation limits in regard to markets where contracts for future delivery of oil are traded. [107]

In February 2019, during ongoing disputes between the United States and China on trade, Feinstein was one of ten senators to sign a bipartisan letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Energy Secretary Rick Perry asserting that the American government "should consider a ban on the use of Huawei inverters in the United States and work with state and local regulators to raise awareness and mitigate potential threats" and urged them "to work with all federal, state and local regulators, as well as the hundreds of independent power producers and electricity distributors nation-wide to ensure our systems are protected." [108]

Truck underride crashes

In March 2019, Feinstein was a cosponsor of the Stop Underrides Act, a bill that would require underride guards on both the sides and front of a truck in addition to changing standards for underride guards on the back of trucks. [109]

USA PATRIOT Act

Feinstein was the original Democratic co-sponsor of a bill to extend the USA PATRIOT Act. In a December 2005 statement, Feinstein stated, "I believe the Patriot Act is vital to the protection of the American people." [110]

Feinstein proposed an amendment to the Patriot Act would have explicitly excluded U.S. citizens from the detention authority created by the Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed just after the September 11 attacks in 2001. The amendment failed 45–55. [111]

Though her amendment was defeated, the compromised amendment, passed 99–1, affirmed that nothing in the NDAA is intended to alter the government's current legal authority to detain prisoners captured in the war on terror.[ citation needed ]

Victims' rights

In the 1990s, Feinstein was one of the original sponsors, along with Republican Senator Jon Kyl, of an effort to amend the United States Constitution to protect victims' rights in trial. Though the constitutional amendment ultimately failed, Senators Kyl and Feinstein authored the 2004 Scott Campbell, Stephanie Roper, Wendy Preston, Louarna Gillis, and Nila Lynn Crime Victims' Rights Act, which listed a victims' bill of rights and provided mandamus relief in appellate court for any victim denied those rights. [112] The act also offered sanctions against government officials who wantonly and willfully refused to comply with the Crime Victims' Rights Act. Both Senators Kyl and Feinstein described their collaboration as a high point of bi-partisan collaboration in their careers. In front of the Senate, Senator Kyl said, "This legislation would not be before us today without Senator Feinstein. That is simply a fact. For all of the hard work we have put in with her cooperation and her commitment to this, I thank Senator Feinstein deeply. She knows that bond of trust will continue to exist between us." [113]

Wiretapping

In August 2007, Feinstein joined Republicans in the Senate in voting to modify the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by narrowing the scope of its protections to sharply alter the legal limits on the government's ability to monitor phone calls and email messages of American citizens. [114] Feinstein voted to give the attorney general and the director of national intelligence the power to approve international surveillance of the communications of Americans entirely within the executive branch, rather than through the special intelligence court established by FISA. Many privacy advocates have decried this law and Feinstein's vote in favor of it. [115] In February 2008, Feinstein joined Republicans in the Senate in voting against removing the provisions that provided immunity from civil liability to electronic communication service providers for certain assistance (most notably, access without warrants to fiber-optic cables carrying bulk transmissions for the purposes of interception and monitoring) provided to the Government. [116]

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References

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Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein, official Senate photo.jpg
United States Senator
from California
In office
November 10, 1992 September 28, 2023