Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I have been listening to our colleagues with rapt attention at the excellence of their presentations and the depth of their understanding of this problem. I couldn't help but notice on the charts of the Senator from Oregon, often the source was NOAA or NASA, two Agencies where we have had to worry, in the last 2 years, about the attempted muzzling of science, of scientists, and the seeming putdown of science--not by the Agencies themselves because they are such great experts. As matter of fact, when I have held several hearings at ground zero, which is South Florida, where we are seeing the effects of climate change in the rising of the seas and now are seeing a mean high tide and the water sloshing over the curbs of South Florida cities--having these hearings there, it is often NASA scientists and NOAA scientists who testify. So I want the Senator from Oregon, the Senator from Delaware who preceded him, several others, and the Senator from Massachusetts to know how much I appreciate their taking up the banner and keeping on this matter. I also want to say that if we do not change our processes of putting a lot of carbon into the air--and, as the Senator said, it is often methane, it is often carbon dioxide--the Earth will continue to heat up. If it gets heated up to something over 4 degrees Fahrenheit more than the average annual global temperature, that is the point of no return. At that point, you can't stop the heating up.…”