On the recordJanuary 25, 2021
as a lot of our colleagues here know, Senator Whitehouse is not just a distinguished Senator but one of my very good friends here in the U.S. Senate. So I always respect what he has to say, and I appreciate his words. He and I have done a lot of work--some key work, particularly on issues of the environment and cleaning up our oceans--ocean acidification--and I look forward to continuing to work with him. Climate change is also, certainly, happening in my State. We are seeing it. No doubt about it. My point is we have an economy that is in recession, and you have tens of thousands--literally, hundreds of thousands--of people out of work, and you have a sector that is important--critical, actually--the energy sector. There is no doubt about it. I know we can use words like spewing and polluters, but the energy sector has been one of the things that has made this country so strong, with great jobs--middle-class jobs--and people can't deny that. All I am asking for is for the new Secretary of the Treasury to look at that. We are looking at the whole U.S. economy and the strength of our recovery and good-paying jobs. That has to be taken into account. What I worry about is that it is not. We need a debate, and I would welcome it with my good friend on: What is the strategy? The strategy out of the box can't be that we are going to go after these oil and gas jobs and put people out of work. And replace it with what?…
