Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise in recognition of a friend and colleague, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, on this special occasion of his 250th speech in his ``Time to Wake up'' series, a series of speeches, as far as I know, unparalleled in the history of the Senate for addressing a major national issue, a major world issue--the issue of carbon pollution and climate chaos. As we take in a breath of air at this very moment, when you are sitting on the dais or at one of the desks or sitting on the benches, that breath of air contains air very different from the air when I was born. The air contains 33 percent more carbon. This has never happened over the lifetime of any individual in the history of the human species on this planet, and it means big changes because every molecule of carbon is grabbing heat and holding on to it. Out in Oregon that means there are warmer winters, which is wonderful for the pine beetles and bad for the pine trees. It means there is a smaller snowpack that melts earlier, on average, resulting in less irrigation water for our farmers and ranchers. It also means less healthy streams for salmon and trout. It means that a lot of the carbon will be absorbed into the ocean and become carbonic acid, and now we have to artificially buffer the Pacific Ocean seawater in order for baby oysters to survive. The list goes on, but the point is that these changes are happening not just in my State but all over our country, and not just in our country but all over the world.…”