Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for giving me this time at the end of the day and congratulate her on the progress that has been made with my senior Senator, Jack Reed, on this bill. This is the 137th time that I have addressed this body, asking us to wake up to the threat of climate change. While we sleepwalk, our atmosphere and oceans continue to suffer the damage caused by carbon pollution. As we do nothing, more and more Americans demand action. Look at the new findings from Yale and George Mason Universities. Despite years of industry climate denial propaganda, 75 percent of all registered voters--88 percent of Democrats, 78 percent of Independents, and 61 percent of Republicans--support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant; 74 percent of registered voters--88 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of Independents, and 56 percent of Republicans--say corporations and industry should do more to address global warming, and 68 percent of all registered voters--86 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of Independents, and 47 percent even of Republicans--believe fossil fuel companies should be required to pay a carbon tax and the money should be used to reduce other taxes, such as income taxes, by an equal amount. So why does this Chamber sit idly by and not even have that conversation? Take the fossil fuel industry. For years Big Oil and its allies funded outright denial of man-made climate change.…”