Sheldon Whitehouse

I can remember when the plan for dealing with pollutants coming out of power plants was to raise the smokestacks higher.

It matters a lot to us in Rhode Island, and I suspect in Massachusetts as well, and I suspect Delaware as well, as downwind States.

I say science is the headlights that drives us forward, and let's us see what's coming.

Thank you Senator Braun. I will do a second round, and I guess I'd like to first start by asking the witnesses who are here present in the room, whether any of you endorse the proposition that there is nothing going on here that is out of…

No, no, no, no. Okay. Do any of you doubt that unusual risk is being caused by emissions from fossil fuel combustion? No, no, no, no, everybody accepts that that correlation exists, okay.

It can endanger entire communities and create a downward spiral that's difficult to emerge from.

You're bounded by the fiduciary duty to be truthful and accurate, and operate on the best information you can find.

The way that I have described this is that climate change causes weather anomalies, and those anomalies make events harder to predict.

And to perhaps state the obvious, as the President of Aon Corporation, you have a fiduciary duty to your shareholders and to your employees, and to your customers, to try to get this right.

You can't insure what you can't predict.

What we do here now will not just have impacts for thousands of years, it will be remembered for thousands of years.

Let's not pretend that economic shocks don't affect the budget.

Warnings abound of what rising seas, droughts, floods and wildfires will do to American families and businesses, and to our economy.

I have had enough Groundhog Days.

We would like to try to make sure that medication-assisted treatment for people who have opioid disorders can be accomplished through telehealth.

In that backward-looking period in the past, that is an actual $2.2-trillion savings in health-care spending.

There is no chance in the world that the aluminum and steel arrangement will create anything like the emissions reductions of a proper carbon border tariff.

I have taken a very strong line that I believe is consistent with what the administration wants, which is basically tough bounce.

I do not want to have to say, 'No, no, no, that step up and match us is only true when we are telling you you have to match us.'

I hope very much that that will be seen as a welcome step by the administration and one that we can try to meet and match.

We still need other major interventions.

I urge you to support a completely broad, across the government, multi-agency, not just you and a DOJ task force to respond.

It matters a lot to us in Rhode Island, and I suspect in Massachusetts as well, and I suspect Delaware as well, as downwind States.

And you can't just say what you please. You're bounded by the fiduciary duty to be truthful and accurate, and operate on the best information you can find.

The way that I have described this is that climate change causes weather anomalies, and those anomalies make events harder to predict.