Political Quotes

“Senator Whitehouse raises the name of John Chafee and Lincoln Chafee. I was friendly with both of those Chafees, John being my chairman, a role model for me. I literally learned from him. Not only was he a leader on the environment, he was a leader on so many other issues: sensible gun laws--sensible gun laws. Something has happened to the Grand Old Party. Somebody once said maybe they are the formerly Grand Old Party. But I have hope they will return and be the Grand Old Party, because I was here when we had leadership on the other side for a climate bill. We fell just a few votes short. If we hadn't had a filibuster, we would have nailed it. Putting a price on carbon is the only way to go, and my colleague makes the case because there is a cost. What is the cost? We see it. This is the cost. Yet those who are putting this dangerous pollution in the air don't pay anything for it. As a matter of fact, they get subsidies still. The Senator and I sometimes talk offline here, and we say we are very calm when we speak here because we know we have to have a sense of decorum, but inside a lot of us are churning, because we love our children and we love our grandchildren and we love this Nation and we want to be leaders and we want our Nation to lead. Yet we are having a terrible time. We have a situation where 97 percent of scientists say climate change is happening and we know exactly why. It is human behavior.…”