Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am here again, as the Senate returns to regular business, to call us again to respond to the threat of climate change. Here on the floor today, things seem back to normal. The floor is empty. We have a Senator instead of a Chief Justice in the chair. The quorum calls descend between the speeches. Our new pages are figuring out the nonimpeachment routines of the floor. Outside of the Senate, things are anything but normal. The threat of climate change worsens by the minute. Carbon emissions continue to rise globally. We hurtle toward calamity. Yet we do not act. What is stopping us? The biggest, most powerful, most motivated force preventing climate action is the fossil fuel industry, and, of course, it would be. The fossil fuel industry reaps the biggest subsidy in the history of the planet. The International Monetary Fund estimates the global subsidy for fossil fuel in the trillions of dollars every year. In the United States alone, the fossil fuel industry got a $650 billion subsidy in 2015, according to the most recent report from the IMF. That is about $2,000 from every woman, man, and child in the country. You wrote the check, and they will spend big bucks to defend that subsidy. In fact, to maintain their grip on that subsidy, fossil fuel companies deploy lots of propaganda on the American people. They swamp us in advertising. The game isn't just to sell you more gas. It is much bigger than that.…”