Political Quotes

On the recordJuly 11, 2016
Madam President, I have risen on several occasions to bring attention to the challenges confronting our ``we the people'' system of government that President Abraham Lincoln so eloquently described all those years ago as one ``of the people, by the people, and for the people.'' I have talked about the powerful special interests working to corrupt the nature of our Republic, thanks to the unchecked wealth flowing into our political system because of the Supreme Court's series of misguided decisions in Buckley v. Valeo, Citizens United, and SpeechNow.org. Today, I am honored to join with my colleagues from Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Connecticut--organized by my colleague from Rhode Island, who will be speaking in a moment--to show how these same special interests are using their vast wealth and resources to sway national policies and public debate to benefit their interests at the expense of the American people and turn our government into one of, by, and for a powerful special interest. There is no better example of what I mean than the debate surrounding one of the most critical issues facing our Nation and the world today: climate change. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once famously stated that ``everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.'' Well, manmade climate change is a fact.…
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Jeff Merkley
Democratic · Oregon

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