Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise in sadness and somewhat perplexed because what we are doing in this colloquy is recreating a statement, a letter, as the Senator from Minnesota outlined, that was sent by six of our predecessors in December of 1986, warning about the dangers of climate change, warning about what this can do to our country and to our world, about costs, and about how we had to take action. One of those Senators was George Mitchell of Maine, one of the great legislators of the 20th century. I am honored to be in the seat that once was occupied by George Mitchell and also by his predecessor, Edmund Muskie. I think the story of the major environmental legislation of the 20th century, sponsored principally at the beginning by Edmund Muskie, the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, is worth mentioning, if only briefly. The most important point is that the Clean Air Act, one of the most important and comprehensive environmental pieces of legislation in our Nation's history, passed this body unanimously. It passed this body unanimously. It disturbs me that we couldn't agree on the time of day around here unanimously these days. I don't know when this issue became a partisan issue, but I deeply regret it because it is causing harm to our country. What I would like to do is step into George Mitchell's shoes for a moment and read a statement that he himself wrote and made back in 1986, and you are not going to believe how prescient this statement is.…”