Political Quotes

“the hope for this evening was that by extending a formal invitation to our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, somebody would come to the floor who was not just outright denying that climate change is happening. For a while Senator Inhofe's was focused on the economics of various types of regulation during his remarks. At that point I thought maybe we could have a conversation about the best way to solve the climate change problem, but toward the end of his remarks, he got back to denying that it is happening at all, which makes a tough place to begin negotiations. There are plenty of other Republican Senators in this body, many of whom have worked on this issue in the past. I don't know whether it is a coincidence, but the level of activity by Republican Senators on climate change collapsed shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United. As many of my Republican friends have pointed out to me on the floor, there have been times when the big, dark, anonymous election money that has been thrown around since that decision has been made has been spent against Republicans more than against Democrats. We hope that as we resolve that issue, some of our friends find a way back to the positions they have held in the past, back to campaigning nationally on climate issues, supporting bipartisan climate legislation, supporting a carbon fee, and voting for a cap-and-trade bill.…”