At a memorial service in San Francisco, California, Vice President Kamala Harris praised the life and legacy of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
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00:00 Now it is my honor to introduce the Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala D. Harris.
00:09 [applause]
00:17 Thank you, Mayor Breed.
00:19 To Catherine, Eileen, Rick, and the entire family, and to all the distinguished guests who are gathered,
00:27 it is my honor to be here with you today.
00:31 Dianne Feinstein was an icon of California.
00:37 She was an American patriot, a giant of the Senate, and a dear friend to Doug and me.
00:50 She was a student of history, a gifted and, I will add, very generous artist.
01:00 Many of us are collectors of Dianne's work.
01:05 And a passionate leader.
01:08 Simply put, she was a force.
01:12 To many of you, she was supervisor, mayor, senator, and then chairman.
01:19 She was recognized around the world as a leader, a standard bearer of America, and of American values.
01:29 Yet, of course, to Catherine and Eileen, she held perhaps the most important titles of all, mother and grandmother.
01:41 So to Catherine and Eileen and Rick and to the entire family, Doug and my prayers are with you.
01:47 And I don't have to tell you --
01:50 [cheering]
02:01 -- that it is not easy --
02:05 -- it is not easy when a loved one lives a life of public service, especially a person as hardworking and selfless as Dianne Feinstein.
02:18 So to you, the family, we thank you for all the sacrifices you have knowingly and unknowingly made over the years that allowed her to serve.
02:31 And on behalf of the people of the United States, we are grateful to you.
02:37 As a public servant, Dianne had the courage to take on the many tough fights, even when she was faced with fierce opposition and political peril.
02:51 And especially when her work was in defense of the Constitution and the security of the American people.
03:00 Dianne commanded respect, and she gave respect.
03:06 She was a serious and gracious person who welcomed debate and discussion, but always required that it would be well-informed and studied.
03:21 And I believe that this city, where she started, had a lot to do with that.
03:28 To the uneducated here, I will let you in on a well-known secret.
03:34 San Francisco politics is rough and tumble.
03:38 Some even say a bare-knuckled sport.
03:42 And this city requires its elected officials to engage on a daily basis in complex discussions with informed constituents who will raise the most interest of local issues.
04:02 No matter if you are walking through the Presidio or attending an event at Delancey Street.
04:09 And this environment, I do believe, guided Dianne's style of leadership, even after she reached the heights of national and global power.
04:23 Dianne diligently focused on the impacts to real people. Ideology. Substance, not citizenship. Results, not rhetoric.
04:39 When I was sworn into the Senate in 2017, it was Dianne who welcomed me.
04:45 She invited me to her Senate hideaway.
04:48 There, with one hand, she presented me with a glass of California Chardonnay.
04:55 And with the other hand, a binder full of her draft bills.
05:01 And true to her mayoral roots, she was deeply immersed in the details of each bill and how each would play on the streets of our beloved state.
05:16 Some of my fondest recent memories of Dianne are of our time together in a SCIF, a secure meeting room in the United States Senate.
05:27 Every week, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee would walk into that wood-paneled room.
05:34 No cameras. No public. No devices.
05:39 [crowd noise]
05:44 Senators of both parties who would take off their jackets and literally roll up their sleeves,
05:54 putting aside partisanship to discuss what was in the best interest of our national security.
06:02 There, we would review classified materials and receive updates from the heads of the CIA, our intelligence community, and the United States military.
06:15 And God forbid if one of them gave an evasive answer.
06:21 Dianne, with her trademark grin, would pause, lift up her memo, glance knowingly at the others of us on the dais,
06:33 and question the witness in a way this former prosecutor always admired.
06:40 In that room, there was give and take, substantive debate, and problem solving.
06:50 And that was quintessential Dianne at her best.
06:57 So as I close, allow me to turn back the clock 30 years to today, November 3, 1992.
07:09 I was a young prosecutor at the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.
07:15 And on that evening, I left my home in Oakland, got in my Toyota Corolla, and drove across the Bay Bridge to the city.
07:26 I pulled into the Fairmont Hotel, and I walked up to a huge and packed ballroom.
07:36 There on stage stood Dianne and Barbara Boxer, hands raised in what the nation would name the year of the woman.
07:50 We celebrated an historic feat.
07:55 We were the first state to elect two female senators.
08:01 And that night, we celebrated Dianne, who the next day would take office as the first female senator ever for the great state of California.
08:14 Fast forward to today, when I again travel to the city to celebrate Dianne, this time from Washington, D.C., on Air Force Two.
08:28 Dianne, the women of America have come a long way.
08:34 Our country has come a long way.
08:37 And you helped move the ball forward.
08:41 And our nation salutes you, Dianne.
08:44 [applause]