Political positions of Dianne Feinstein

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Main article: Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Feinstein
Senior Senator from California
Incumbent
Assumed office  November 10, 1992 Serving with Barbara Boxer
Preceded by	John F. Seymour
38th Mayor of San Francisco
In office December 4, 1978 – January 8, 1988
Preceded by	George Moscone
Succeeded by	Art Agnos
Born	June 22, 1933 (1933-06-22) (age 74) San Francisco, California
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Judge Jack Berman (div.) Bertram Feinstein (deceased) Richard C. Blum
Alma mater	Stanford University
Net Worth	$49-110 million (USD) [1]
Religion	Jewish

Dianne Feinstein is the current senior senator in the US Senate representing California. Prior to her time in the Senate, she ran for Governor of California and was Mayor of San Francisco. Feinstein tends to be seen as a moderate in the Senate. She has worked to ban assault weapons and to gain passage of the California Desert Protection Act to preserve wilderness. She voted to authorize the use of military force in Iraq in 2002 and has stated that she is a supporter of the Patriot Act.

Contents 1 Iraq 2 Wiretapping 3 USA PATRIOT Act 4 Immigration 5 Environment 6 Death penalty 7 Free speech 8 Gun politics 9 Intellectual property 10 Congressional scorecards 11 Lifetime ideological ratings 12 Footnotes

[edit] Iraq

Feinstein supported the Iraq war resolution in the vote of October 11, 2002; she has 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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."^[4]

In November 2007, Feinstein was one of only six Democrats to vote to confirm Michael Mukasey as Attorney General.^[5]

[edit] 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.^[6] 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 Senator Feinstein's vote in favor of it.^[7] In February 2008, Feinstein joined Republicans in the Senate in voting "Nay" to strike the provisions providing immunity from civil liability to electronic communication service providers for certain assistance provided to the Government.^[8]

[edit] USA PATRIOT Act

Feinstein was the original Democratic cosponsor of a bill to extend the USA PATRIOT Act. In a December 2005 statement, Senator Feinstein stated, "I believe the Patriot Act is vital to the protection of the American people."^[9]

[edit] Immigration

Feinstein is a supporter and cosponsor of the H-1B Visa program.

[edit] Environment

Feinstein and her predecessor Senator Alan Cranston worked for over 10 years to pass the California Desert Protection Act. The bill was signed in to law by President Bill Clinton in 1994. The bill protected 7,661,089 acres (31,003 km²) of California's desert lands as wilderness and national parks.[1] The Act doubled the size of the National Wilderness Preservation System in California, and was the largest wilderness bill in California's history.

Senators Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were the champions of the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, which was signed in to law by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. The bill protected 275,830 acres (1,116 km²) of federal land as wilderness and 21 miles (34 km) of stream as a wild and scenic river, including such popular areas as the King Range and Cache Creek.[2] Senators Feinstein and Boxer worked with Representative Mike Thompson, the sponsor of the bill in the House, in the 5-year effort to pass the legislation.

Feinstein along with her colleague Boxer voted in favor of subsidy payments to conventional commodity farm producers at the cost of subsidies for conservation-oriented farming.^[10] More recently, Feinstein has not taken a stand on the widely criticized subsidies in the 2007 U.S. Farm Bill.^[11]

[edit] Death penalty

Feinstein is a supporter of capital punishment.

[edit] Free speech

She was the main Democratic sponsor of the failed 2006 constitutional Flag Desecration Amendment.^[12]

She also voted for the McCain-Feingold legislation.

After heavily supporting President Bush's Immigration Reform Bill, she mentioned that she was "looking into revising" the Fairness Doctrine, specifically targeting talk radio.^[13]

[edit] Gun politics

She is opposed by gun rights organizations, who say that her proposals on gun control are unconstitutional.

In 1993, Feinstein, along with then-Representative Charles Schumer (D-NY), led the fight to ban many semi-automatic firearms and restrict the sale of firearm magazines deemed assault weapons. The ban was passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. 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.^[14] The act was then revived in 2005, and, despite Feinstein's best efforts, was passed without an extension of the assault weapons ban.

Feinstein said on CBS-TV's 60 Minutes, February 5, 1995, "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in, I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here."^[14]

In July 2006, Feinstein voted against the Vitter Amendment to prohibit Federal funds being used for the confiscation of lawfully owned firearms during a disaster.^{[15] [16]}

[edit] Intellectual property

Feinstein has supported Hollywood and the content industry when it has come into conflict with technology and fair use on intellectual property issues. In 2006 she cosponsored the "PERFORM Act" or the "Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act of 2006" to the Senate, which would require satellite, cable and internet broadcasters to incorporate digital rights management technologies into their transmission. Over the air broadcasting would not be affected.^[17] Feinstein's consistent backing of the content industry and attacks on fair use have earned her poor marks with the EFF and IPac.

[edit] Congressional scorecards

See also

• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart

Project Vote Smart provides the following results from congressional scorecards.^[18]

• American Civil Liberties Union — 73% for 2005–2006
• Americans for Democratic Action — 90% for 2006
• American Land Rights Association — 11% for 2006
• Americans for Tax Reform — 10% for 2006
• AFL-CIO — 100% in 2006
• Campaign for America's Future — 100% for 2005–2006
• Conservative Index-John Birch Society — 20% for Fall 2004
• Children's Defense Fund — 90% for 2006
• Drum Major Institute — 75% for 2005
• Family Research Council — 0% for 2006
• FreedomWorks — 8% for 2006
• Gun Owners of America — 0% for 2006
• Humane Society of the United States — 100% for 2005–2006
• League of Conservation Voters — 100% for 2006
• NARAL Pro-Choice America — 100% for 2006
• National Association of Wheat Growers — 66% for 2005
• National Education Association — 100% for 2005–2006
• National Federation of Independent Business — 22% for 2005–2006
• National Journal — Composite liberal score of 76.5% for 2006
• National Organization for Women — 86% for 2005–2006
• National Rifle Association — F for 2006
• National Right to Life Committee — 0% for 2005–2006
• National Taxpayers Union — 10% for 2006
• Population Connection — 100% for 2006
• Republican Liberty Caucus — 15% for 2005
• Secular Coalition for America — 90% on 2006 scorecards^[19]
• United States Chamber of Commerce — 50% for 2006

[edit] Lifetime ideological ratings

• The American Civil Liberties Union has given her a lifetime rating of 68%.^[20]
• She has been rated by the League of Conservation Voters an average of 88% on environmental issues.^[21]
• The American Conservative Union has given her a lifetime rating of 11 (out of a possible 100).^[22]
• The National Rifle Association has given her an F rating.^[23]
• California Peace Action has given her 67%.^[24]

[edit] Footnotes