Political Quotes

“I am back again to remind this body and the American people for what I think is perhaps the 32nd speech on this subject that I have been giving weekly, that it is time, indeed it is well past time, for Congress to wake up to the disastrous effects of global climate change. The famous Mauna Loa Observatory has for the first time ever hit 400 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere. That is an alarming benchmark to have hit. What is happening? Over on the House side today they are repealing ObamaCare for the 37th time. That is the level of seriousness in Washington right now. In particular, our oceans--the Presiding Officer represents the Bay State, I represent the Ocean State--our oceans face an unprecedented set of challenges that come from climate change as well as from pollution and energy exploration and more. We just have to look around to see it. We can look up to the far north and see that the Arctic ice is melting. Indeed, last summer sea ice extant in the Arctic Ocean hit a record low. If we go south to the tropic seas, we will see that live coral coverage on Caribbean reefs is plummeting. It is down to less than 10 percent today. If we go to the top of the food chain, we will see marine mammals so laden with PCBs, flame retardants, mercury, and other bioaccumulative pollutants that many of them are swimming toxic waste-- living, swimming toxic waste.…”