Political Quotes

“Mr. President, what this amendment does is it supports the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: freedom of speech, to prohibit censorship of Federal agencies and Federal employees from speaking in scientific terms about the oceans, the weather, the atmospheres, and the climate. You would think this is so common sense and so understood under our freedom of speech in our U.S. Constitution, but we have all read news reports at the State level, at the local level, and maybe even at the Federal level that, indeed, some folks are trying to muzzle scientists from speaking about the science involving the oceans, the atmosphere, climate, and the weather. I have the privilege of knowing something about the space program. When I hear people saying they don't want NASA to get involved in climate, well, NASA builds the satellites, NASA launches the satellites--but then NOAA, in the Department of Commerce, operates these weather satellites--other satellites that are taking measurements of the Earth to understand what is happening to our atmosphere, what is happening to our climate. When I start talking about the atmosphere, I can't help but flash back 29\1/2\ half years ago, looking at our planet out the window of a spacecraft and looking at the rim of the Earth and seeing the thin little film that is the atmosphere that sustains all of our life. There is a lot about it that we don't know. There is a lot about it that we, in fact, can measure scientifically.…”