Political Quotes

“He has done 249, and he is about to do 250, and I will let him get to it. But it will be 250 individual speeches on the Senate floor. Sometimes there are people in the Chamber, and sometimes it is empty and you are talking to these incredible young men and women who serve as pages and the Presiding Officer, who has no choice but to sit there politely. But Sheldon Whitehouse will give his 250th speech on climate, and it is not most of what he has done. It is a small part of what he has done to lead on climate with absolute moral, scientific, political, and pragmatic clarity. I will just say a couple more things about my partnership with Sheldon. You know, I was a very happy Lieutenant Governor of the State of Hawaii, and I was leading the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, which is our effort to get to 100 percent clean energy by the year 2040. The very unfortunate death of Daniel K. Inouye made a vacancy in the Senate seat, and I decided to pursue this Senate seat because I wanted to do something about climate. I didn't know most of the Members except for the famous ones. When I came to the Senate, everybody told me to talk to Sheldon Whitehouse, and we became fast friends. He comes from the Ocean State, even though that sounds weird to me. I come from the Aloha State, and he comes from the Ocean State, and we have been working together ever since. But I want to report to whomever is watching that I never felt such momentum on this issue.…”