"Student loan debt has been the driving force of my decisions for the last 8 years of my life, and according to my current repayment plan, it is projected to be for the next 25 years of my life well into the years for which I would be planning for retirement."
"I really want to focus on the cost of this equation, as Dr. Vedder did, bringing down the cost of higher education."
"Climate change will have, and I quote, 'specific, measurable impacts on our Nation's current assets and ongoing economic activity.'"
"The 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review identified effects of climate change as 'threat multipliers' that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability,..."
"Anyone who, like me, wants to tackle our long-term fiscal challenges fairly and responsibly needs also to worry about the impacts of climate change."
"But given what we know about the consequences of a warming planet, inaction is far more costly."
"It is just not that hard to say it. And I am so happy that the witnesses were willing to come and agree on that basic proposition."
"Those who attempt to argue against the scientific consensus and pretend that mankind does not have anything to do with these climate issues, they do not get very far in my Commonwealth."
"So we should not be cutting research budgets if we are going to be going after."
"Make everybody who lives in a floodplain, even though those floodplain maps are dramatically expanding, pay the full freight."
"That is as politically infeasible as a carbon tax. We have got a lot of tough choices coming up here."