Political Quotes

“in deference to the Presiding Officer, I am going to forgo my speech on the Stanley Cup playoffs until another Member is presiding later in the day. Instead, I wish to address the speech made by the Senate Republican leader on the issue of our environment. Senator McConnell of Kentucky tells us if we are going to discuss the state of our environment in America, it is a war on coal and a war on jobs. I think he is wrong. I think the Republican approach to the environmental issues is a war on science. It is a denial of the overwhelming scientific evidence that the weather affecting us on this Earth is changing. We know it. Storms, extraordinary storms, are more frequent and more violent than they have been. We know the polar icecap is melting. We know the glaciers are disappearing. We know the impact this will have on humanity as well as wildlife. Yet from the other side there is a complete denial of science. This is a war on science. Their position is also a war on public health. Twenty-five million Americans suffer from asthma. Nearly one in five children with asthma went to an emergency department for care in 2009. To ignore the state of air pollution and the public health challenges it presents is to ignore the reality of the state of our environment and its impact on public health. Finally, the public approach when it comes to this issue is a war on this Earth we call home.…”