Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am here for my 198th ``Time to Wake Up'' speech with my increasingly dog-eared and beaten chart. My last two speeches focused on, shall we say, the peculiar role two of this country's largest trade associations play on climate change. They have dozens and dozens of member companies that support action on climate change. Renewable energy now provides more jobs than fossil fuels and lots of American manufacturing. Yet the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers spend millions and millions of dollars lobbying Congress against climate action, against renewables, and in favor of the fossil fuel industry. Go figure. In 2016, Senator Warren and I surveyed the 108 companies on the chamber of commerce's board, and we couldn't find a single one that would endorse the chamber's anti-climate lobbying--not one. Many of these companies had very public pro-climate positions. None said they had even been consulted by the chamber about the chamber's anti-climate crusade. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's war on climate action isn't just in lobbying Congress. It also spends tens of millions of dollars in elections, using political attack ads to sink pro-climate candidates. So I asked in my last speeches: Why? Why does the chamber and NAM advance the special interests of the fossil fuel industry, opposing climate action, ignoring their own pro-climate members, and turning their backs on the whole renewable energy and green technology economy?…”