Political Quotes

“Mr. President, it is nice to see the distinguished Senator in the chair presiding. I am not sure, in my 183 ``Time to Wake Up'' speeches, I have yet had the pleasure of speaking while the Senator was presiding. I am here to once again call for us to wake up to the corporate capture of Congress and this administration--the capture of governance by the fossil fuel industry that keeps us from honestly addressing climate change. There is a saying that ``personnel is policy.'' Well, the Trump personnel for positions at the Environmental Protection Agency reflect a policy to undo the public welfare mission of the Agency and align it with the special interests of the fossil fuel industry. There is a word for that. It is called corruption, at least as the Founding Fathers knew the meaning of that term. It starts at the top. Trump named Scott Pruitt head of the EPA. Pruitt has a long record of dark money fundraising and long, cozy relationships with Big Energy industry political donors. In effect, he is a tentacle of the fossil fuel climate denial operation, wiggling and wriggling in the Administrator's chair, near his new $25,000 ``cone of silence'' secret communications booth that he built so no one would hear him checking in with his masters. Results are as expected. The New York Times has reported: ``How Rollbacks at Scott Pruitt's EPA are a Boon to Oil and Gas.'' No surprise.…”