Political Quotes

“Madam President, let me first thank my friend Senator Schatz for his incredibly kind remarks. He is an outstanding colleague. We work together extremely well. He brings a good cop ``aloha'' sensibility to a conversation, whereas I tend to lean more toward the bad cop, and he has a remarkable vision for how this can be solved. I am incredibly honored that he is here. For the 250th week that the Senate has been in session, I rise to call this Chamber to wake up to the threat of climate change. In April of 2012, I delivered the first of these speeches. I began: ``I know that many in Washington would prefer to ignore this issue, but nature keeps sending us messages--messages we ignore at our peril.'' It was a cry of frustration--frustration that the Supreme Court's infamous Citizens United decision had killed the bipartisan work that I saw here on climate for 3 years; frustration that the fossil fuel industry's death grip had tightened around this Chamber, preventing action; frustration that our Democratic administration had abandoned leadership on climate change and would barely even talk about it. It has been a run, and here I am, still at it, 7 years on. Some things have changed; some things have not. Let's start with what has not changed. What has not changed is the scientific certainty about what is happening in our atmosphere and oceans.…”