Sheldon Whitehouse

Once again we are here to consider a Republican attack against environmental protection. It is becoming a recurring theme.

The so-called Federal Water Quality Protection Act, an ironic name if there ever was one, would prohibit EPA from finalizing any change to its regulations.

Contrary to what my Republican colleagues claim, this rule is good economic news in Rhode Island and probably across the Country.

I am at this point in undecided mode. I am waiting to let my Rhode Island universities have a chance to digest the bill a little bit more.

The conflict of big versus little and the advantage that our litigation system kind of systemically gives to big.

I echo Senator Coons' suggestion that there should be more hearings on this that bring in a wider range of viewpoints.

Helps remind us why we do the Endangered Species Act.

I think the phenomenon of climate change is one which is an overarching threat to the conservation of species.

We have Republican amendments which, eight to zero, go against the protections of the Endangered Species Act.

It causes me to wonder, is there a single Federal environmental protection that our Republican friends like today.

We have an absolutely Republican wall of antagonism to the new EPA rule protecting the waters of the United States.

It is not so much the question that there is a lot of data and there is a lot of information. That is not the problem.

I think I am the last one at this point. We are coming to the end of what has been a very interesting hearing.

Well, we passed the statute that it is following, and I am comfortable that they are following it.

The benefits of this rule are theoretical or unknown. They are not theoretical or unknown. They are very clear.

But we can't allow those consequences to take us to a point where we deny that the problem exists.

I intend to support this amendment. I think it is a good amendment.

My belief is that the Vitter amendment gets rid of the death zone.

I intend to vote for Senator Gillibrand's amendment because I think it moves us in the right direction.

The significant responsibility for the immigration mess that we're in now lies with Congress, not with you.

I hope that part of this review will not just include what happened in Wisconsin or what happened in Virginia...

I am pretty concerned that that first letter got out and I would be interested in your opinion on why it is that adequate inquiries were not made...

I have seen it in my home State of Rhode Island, in which we address some of the issues related to incarceration.

I think this has been a very, very useful hearing.

We did a very significant piece of legislation in a hotly contested issue area that cleared the Committee 22-0.