Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the world today is in the clutches of a pandemic disease that touches directly or indirectly pretty much every human being on the face of the planet. It is costing us in lives, in money, and in immeasurable human pain. It didn't have to be this way. We could have been better prepared. President Trump was left a detailed playbook from his predecessor, but he ignored it. Trump did away with key safety systems like the National Security Council's pandemic response unit. Once the pandemic struck, Trump and his team assured us it would all go away in time--no urgency. It is a cautionary tale, it is a lesson, and it brings me today for the 270th time to call this Chamber to action on the issue of climate change. We cannot wait flat-footed for the next foreseeable crisis to engulf us. Climate change is a foreseeable crisis. It was indeed a foreseen crisis--indeed, even foreseen by Big Oil--and it is an actual crisis right now. It is a crisis we maybe can manage if we act swiftly and decisively, but if we fail to heed the warnings our natural world is screaming at us, we will be lost. The fossil fuel industry runs a massive dark-money influence campaign to foment fake uncertainty about climate change, but the evidence--the evidence--is overwhelming. We see climate effects in harsher wildfires, more frequent and intense storms, and more extreme heat waves. Mother Nature's warnings grow clearer and louder every day.…”