Political Quotes

On the recordJuly 11, 2016
we expect that the Senator from Delaware will be here shortly, but in the meantime, let me begin with a few remarks. This is the 144th time I have come to the floor to urge Congress to wake up to the threat of climate change. This week, something new is happening. I am joined by colleagues who will help me shine a little light on the web of climate denial and spotlight the bad actors in the web who are polluting our American discourse with phony climate denial. This web of denial, formed over decades, has been built and provisioned by the deep-pocketed Koch brothers, by ExxonMobil, by Peabody coal, and by other fossil fuel interests. It is a grim shadow over our democracy in that it includes an electioneering effort that spends hundreds of millions of dollars in a single election cycle and threatens any Republican who steps up to address the global threat of climate change. Just one of those electioneering groups, the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity, has openly proclaimed that if Republicans support a carbon tax or climate regulations, they would be ``at a severe disadvantage in the Republican nomination process.'' It would mean their political peril. When that threat comes from a group that has openly and notoriously pledged to spend $750 million in an election cycle, that is a threat that serves notice on the political class to behave, and regrettably the political class too often does behave in the face of that kind of money.…
Said by
Sheldon Whitehouse
Democratic · Rhode Island
Source
govinfo.gov
Jul 11, 2016

Share

More from Sheldon Whitehouse

Jul 23, 2026

(F)ew presidents have done more than President Trump to damage Social Security — yet in an Orwellian twist, you are misusing official resources to heap praise on him.

lujan.senate.gov
Jul 6, 2026

We urge you to reject any efforts by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to compensate January 6 rioters for their crimes and to commit to vigorously defending American taxpayers.

padilla.senate.gov
Jun 22, 2026

Trump’s fossil fuel donors would love the federal government to stop measuring the enormous damage their pollution is doing to the oceans.

rhodeislandcurrent.com
Jul 12, 2026

Instead of pursuing renovations tailored to the building’s actual needs, the Center rushed a series of renovations driven by the President’s aesthetic whims and his desire to star in a series of televised events in December.

theguardian.com

Other voices in this conversation