In accordance with a directive of the President, Governor Janet Mills has ordered that the United States and State of Maine flags be lowered to half-staff statewide in honor of the late U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who passed away today at the age of 90. Consistent with the President’s directive, flags should remain lowered until sunset on the day of internment. The Governor issued the following statement:
“Dianne Feinstein was the very definition of a ‘trailblazer’ — the first woman Mayor of San Francisco, the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from California, and the longest serving woman in U.S. Senate history. Along the way, she never stopped fighting to extend opportunity and equality to all Americans. On behalf of the people of Maine, I extend my deepest condolences to the Feinstein family and the people of California.”
The President’s proclamation is as follows:
Senator Dianne Feinstein was a pioneering American and a true trailblazer. In San Francisco, she showed enormous poise and courage in the wake of tragedy, and became a powerful voice for American values. In the United States Senate, she turned passion into purpose, and led the fight to ban assault weapons, also making her mark on everything from national security to the environment to protecting civil liberties. Senator Feinstein was a role model for so many Americans and she had an immense impact on younger female leaders for whom she generously opened doors. She was a historic figure, and our country will benefit from her legacy for generations.
As a mark of respect for the memory of Senator Dianne Feinstein, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, on the day of interment. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.