Political Quotes

“I will conclude by saying it is obviously not going to be easy to address real climate legislation, real clean energy jobs legislation here in this body. The big special interests have their way here far too often. They have spent years salting the fields of public opinion with their propaganda. Their power in this Chamber is immense. We may not have the luxury of waiting to take this on until it is easy. We may have to take this on while it is hard, while it is a fight against the entrenched interests, while it is a fight against the big polluters, while it is a fight against the propaganda and dissimulation and deceit and delay that are their stock-in-trade on this issue. But the one thing I think that can reassure us is that the public is with us, that the facts honestly looked at are clear, that the stakes by any standard are high, and that history's judgment of our failure will be a stern one. I hope we can pull ourselves together to take on this issue so that the Rhode Islanders who communicate to me so often about this and the people from across this country who see clearly, without the fog of special interest money and influence, what is happening to our country and our world, that their voices are heard more than the big money and the big special interests.”