What Sheldon Whitehouse said, and what was done

“Mr. President, I am here to take us into the upcoming vote, the Congressional Review Act vote, with respect to an EPA rule related to PFAS. For those of you who aren't following this, PFAS is a dangerous and toxic substance that, I think, Republicans and Democrats alike see as a dangerous and inadequately regulated substance.”

“Well, I am sorry that we can't agree on this particular provision because we are working together on so many things so well. But I will have to confess I have real doubts about whether EPA is really trying to put this together, as deadline after deadline slips and slips and slips.”

“Mr. President, I am here today to join the chorus of opposition to Todd Blanche's nomination as Attorney General of the United States. Things that Republicans have purported to care about are disastrous with this guy.”

“And with respect to this litany of criticism of the honesty of the Blanche Department of Justice, I would like to add a ProPublica article entitled ``Federal Judges Chastise Trump's Justice Department for `Unlawful,' `Unethical' and `Unseemly' Conduct,'' whose first sentence begins: Across the country, federal judges are calling out Department of Justice lawyers, questioning in unprecedented ways whether they can be trusted to tell the truth or uphold centuries-old legal norms.”

“ProPublica reviewed hundreds of cases since Trump retook the White House in which judges criticized the actions of DOJ lawyers and found more than 40 in which they explicitly referenced the presumption of regularity.”

“And then this isn't just a problem in American legal communities. There is a global magazine called The Economist magazine, which, by the way, does not run liberal.”

“Last, there is a group called Just Security, which keeps track of what goes on in Federal courts. This is a binder of the cases that they have put together in which a Federal judge is harshly criticizing the integrity or the competence of the Department of Justice.”

“Mr. President, simple fact: Climate change is real. It is actually pretty widely known. I think it is a true statement that every person knowledgeable about climate science who is not on the payroll of the fossil fuel industry or its denial operation agrees with that.”

“You know, it is pretty basic government stuff to fund and maintain weather monitoring and alert systems, including adequate staff at the weather Agencies. If we can't do that, well, we will see more lives lost as ever more frequent and dangerous climate-driven weather events catch people by surprise because our Weather Service is understaffed and underfunded.”

“Mr. President, I won't speak long. David Rosner has died. You have probably never heard of him, but I knew him. His research, along with his colleague Gerry Markowitz, helped expose the role of the lead paint industry in poisoning millions of children.”

“Rosner, who retired from Columbia University as a Professor Emeritus of Sociomedical Sciences in 2025, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1987 and was named the recipient of the 2026 Genevieve Miller Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for the History of Medicine.”

“The next morning, the ICU nurse caring for my dad, who is not a basketball fan, told us that she'd checked the score on her way to work just so that she could tell him the good news.”

“Madam President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I therefore ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S.”

“Mr. President, I am not going to go through a rebuttal of the factual misstatements to which we have just been treated, but I will add that I have objections to the IRA bill as well.”

“Mr. President, climate change is real. Simple proposition. Earlier this year, I came to the floor and asked my colleagues if they could all agree on that simple factual proposition.”

“Mr. President, I appreciate my fine colleague from Indiana State whose Indiana University teaches the science of climate change. But I would like to say that this is not an attack on Florida; this is a warning to Florida of what is happening, what is already demonstrably beginning to happen as a result of sea level rise, worse hurricanes, and heavier storm bursts.”

“Mr. President, climate change is real. Earlier this year, I came to the floor and asked my colleagues if they could all agree to that simple scientific fact.”

“So rising premiums are one key risk to home property values, but insurance unavailability is just as big. More and more often, in the areas of highest climate risk, insurance companies are refusing to insure homes at all.”

“Mr. President, may I just say that some of the projections that my colleague objects to go back to the Chafee hearings of 40 years ago. These are predictions that are the product of NASA scientists.”

“Mr. President, I think it is virtually undisputed, among people who are not on fossil fuel's payroll, that climate change is real. Earlier this year, I came to the floor, and I asked my colleagues if they could all agree on that simple, scientific fact.”

“The home insurance industry is actually under both a business model requirement and a fiduciary legal obligation to do its very, very best to predict risk, figure out what is driving that risk, and act accordingly.”

“Mr. President, today marks the 308th time that I have stood on the Senate floor and asked my colleagues to wake up to the realities of climate change.”

“Mr. President, I come to the Senate floor every year around this time to remark upon an event in our pathway toward revolution. As we close in on the semiquincentennial celebration of our day of independence--July 4, 1776--I want to take this Chamber back 4 more years than that to June 9, 1772, when the first blow was struck of armed conflict between the American Colonies and Great Britain's fleet.”

“Mr. President, I come to the Senate this afternoon with a simple proposition and a resolution that recognizes that simple truth, and that is that: Climate change is real.”

“Mr. President, I just want to make sure it is absolutely clear that that argument is what Republicans have sent to the floor of the U.S. Senate to question the measurements and the facts of climate change.”

“Mr. President, as the Trump administration has walked back from protecting American consumers to help all of its creepy billionaires who it loves so much, States have had to step up into the breach and enact commonsense protections for regular consumers.”

“Mr. President, here is a simple truth: Climate change is real. Earlier this year, I came to the floor and asked my colleagues if they could all agree on this simple scientific fact.”

“In the past, I have reported that our oceans are measured absorbing around 14 zettajoules of excess heat every year. If you want a comparison, you can image that that is the equivalent of seven Hiroshima atomic bombs detonating in the ocean every second.”

“Mr. President, I am here now for the 307th time with my trusty and increasingly battered ``Time to Wake Up'' chart to warn this Chamber about how America's worst polluters have occupied the Trump administration from within.”

“Mr. President, I am here with regard to a unanimous consent resolution. I have tried one before to pursue a simple truth that climate change is real. Earlier this year, I came to the floor and asked my colleagues if they could all agree on that simple scientific fact.”

“Mr. President, to accommodate the distinguished Senator from Wisconsin, I will move the unanimous consent now and then the Ranking Member of the Commerce Committee will speak. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S.”

“Mr. President, I would wrap things up this evening by simply pointing out that the views expressed by the Senator from Wisconsin related to climate change are not shared by the University of Wisconsin, which actually teaches climate science.”

“Mr. President, I am speaking in advance of my colleague from Colorado Senator Bennet's effort to seek redress in this body for a wave of pollution that is being unleashed in his State and neighboring States as well.”

“Mr. President, people following the Senate floor will know that hundreds of times I have come to the floor with my trusty, increasingly beat up ``Time to Wake Up'' poster to describe the various manners in which the fossil fuel industry has corruptly obstructed our ability to solve the problem of climate change that is caused by fossil fuel emissions.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to honor my constituent Phou Vongkhamdy, my favorite Lao cowboy. Phou is the former USDA NRCS State Conservationist for Rhode Island. Since moving to Rhode Island in 2009 and joining the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Phou has become a cornerstone of the northeast agricultural community.”

“Mr. President, I am here for the 305th time with my increasingly weathered and battered ``Time to Wake Up'' chart to warn this Chamber about a corrupt danger to our country--a danger powered by fossil fuel industry money, orchestrated by dark money front groups, and now executed at the highest levels of a corrupted executive branch.”

“Mr. President, I am here to speak about the so-called SAVE America Act, which I think probably would be better described as the ``Steal the Next Election Act'' because of the purpose that this bill has to throw the election and to throw political influence in America to the Republicans.”

“You can imagine why they would want to engage in special weapons and tactics to try to win the 2026 election when you see the political disaster that they are enmeshed in: the mess that the Trump administration has made of the economy, the stench of corruption pervading the administration, a war that is running up gasoline prices and has no end in sight and no evident plan.”

“National Intelligence, much to the glee of Russian state media. Eight, upon the confirmation of Trump's Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice shuttered its anti-kleptocracy work that had successfully targeted Putin's Russian oligarchs.”

“What we do know is that a significant number of powerful men--our current President, some of his Cabinet Secretaries, tech billionaires like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and others--were very mixed up with Epstein at different times, and Epstein seems to have been very mixed up with Russia.”

“Here in this Temple of Mammon, we only seem to care about what we can monetize. So as Budget chair, I drilled hard into how climate change is coming at American family finances.”

“Mr. President, I have served as my State's attorney general. I have served as a U.S. attorney for Rhode Island. I used to lecture at the police training academy in Rhode Island.”

“Mr. President, I am here on the floor for the 36th speech in my ``Scheme'' series, calling attention to the rightwing scheme to capture our courts and justice system.”

“Mr. President, let me first thank Senator Kelly for coordinating this unfortunate commemoration of a truly disgraceful decision by the Republican appointees of the Supreme Court 16 years ago.”

“In Rhode Island, we have a grid. ISO New England it is called. It is through that grid that electrons get from powerplant to the grid and from the grid to people's homes, and it is run as a basically common utility.”

“Mr. President, let me just remind everyone who is listening what this resolution resolved--three simple points: One, climate change is not a hoax. Two, climate science is actually sound science.”

“Mr. President, coal is America's dirtiest energy source. Coal pollution from powerplants befouls our air, pollutes our water, and leaches into our food. Coal pollution causes acid rain.”

“Mr. President, today is a difficult day particularly for our Capitol Police officers. This is the fifth anniversary of the day when a violent mob attacked this building and attacked them.”

“Mr. President, I am honored to join our senior Senator as he calls for a moment of silence to share in the sorrow of the families who lost their young college student children to this tragedy.”

“Mr. President, I am here for my, oh, I guess umpteenth ``Time to Wake Up'' speech. This one comes upon my return from Brazil, where I was the entirety of the United States of America governmental presence at the COP.”

“Mr. President, I rise to speak on the CRA related to the Environmental Protection Agency, now better known as the ``Polluter Protection Agency,'' trying to unwind methane rules.”

“Mr. President, in fond memory of Dame Jane Goodall, 1934-2025, Explorers Club Fellow, Honorary Member, and Explorers Club Medalist, by L. M. Levie: There's a tale explorers tell, of a girl with drive and dreams, Who was born in Hampstead, London in a home of modest means, With a small toy chimp named Jubilee clutched close against her heart, And a yearning for the wilderness, imprinted from the start.”

“Mr. President, I would have hoped that the basic operation of American democracy and particularly the basic integrity of America's elections would not be a topic that we would have to come to the Senate floor to worry about, but the character down the road in the Oval Office is making all sorts of threats to the cornerstone of America's democracy--our elections.”

“Mr. President, as I come to the floor, I reflect on how I have never understood what it is in the Republican mind that is so fixated on taking healthcare away from people.”

“Mr. President, each November, we fall back into darkness very literally. If we pass my Sunshine Protection Act and make daylight saving time permanent, we would gain an hour of afternoon sunlight in the winter months for families to soak up after work and after school.”

“Mr. President, I rise here for the 302nd time to urge this somnolent, compromised body to wake up to the dangers of climate change--again, with my trusted and increasingly battered chart.”

“By the way, they were a little desperate themselves because their business model was failing against the relentless pressure of cheaper, cleaner, more popular renewable energy. There at his club, Candidate Trump delivered his offer.”

“Democracy also should not be for sale--not to fossil fuel billionaires, not to Exxon, not to Chevron, not to Koch Industries, not to the American Petroleum Institute, not to the U.S.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to honor the life of my friend Peter Simone, a longtime North Providence Councilman. One of the best things about politics is the people you get to meet, and one of the best people I got to meet was my friend Peter Simone.”

“Mr. President, I am here on the floor today to talk about President Trump's completely fake energy emergency, which is nothing more than a pretext to move money from the pockets of Americans to his big fossil fuel mega donors.”

“Mr. President, well, we are headed into a miserable situation. It is a miserable situation for all of the Federal employees around the globe who are going to be put into shutdown mode.”

“Mr. President, one of the things I have had the most trouble understanding in the time that I have been in the Senate has been Republicans' bizarre fascination with attacking healthcare systems, with taking healthcare coverage away from Americans.”

“Mr. President, in the Republican ``Beautiful For Billionaires'' bill that Senator Sanders was just referring to, there were a great many dirty tricks tucked in there to hurt people and make billionaires wealthier and happier and more free to pollute.”

“Well, here is the outcome: Given the magnitude of this massive increase, it will create a $45 billion cut to Medicare in 2026--next year. Next year, $45 billion cut to Medicare.”

“Madam President, I am here, I guess, to offer a eulogy for the supposed Republican principle that government should not be used to pick winners and losers. It turns out that principle is soluble in money.”

“Now the Trump administration is engaged in an effort, at breakneck speed, to pick winners and punish losers, and if doing so requires them to tear down protections of Americans' health, of our safety, of the environment, that is all fine with them.”

“If the Senator wishes to speak, I am willing to withdraw my motion to proceed, which actually is not debatable and would cut him off. But I would like to know how much time the Senator would like, and then I would like unanimous consent that we then proceed to the conclusion of Calendar No. 142--and Senator Capito as well.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to extend a warm welcome to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian Church. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will travel to Washington this week to receive the prestigious Templeton Prize, recognizing exceptional contributions to the fields of science and religion.”

“Mr. President, sailors and pilots know to look out for dangerous weather ahead. Politicians can get lost in the moment. We are on the verge of a major economic shock, but Congress is lost in the moment, not paying attention.”

“But it gave fossil fuel a prefab denial operation to take over. And suddenly, a lot of people and a lot of front group who had been expert in how tobacco smoke wasn't bad for you suddenly became expert in how fossil fuel emissions wouldn't wreck the Earth's climate.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, on April 9, I voted for Ms. Kramer in the Environment and Public Works Committee. Since then, the EPA has devolved into a cesspool of fossil fuel corruption.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object. I voted for Mr. McMaster in committee. Indeed, I pushed for his inclusion in a nominations package before the August recess.”

“I would just like to offer one set of figures into the record in the hopes that it helps clarify things. My office tells me that Trump nominations that have been confirmed in the Senate as of September 3 number 135.”

“Mr. President, I thank Senator Reed, and I am very cognizant of the honor of having the chance to reflect on Judge Frank Caprio, who was indeed, as Senator Reed has said, a Rhode Island legend.”

“I see that the Senator from Maryland has come to the floor to make his unanimous consent request, so let me yield to him since we are kind of into his time here.”

“Just one quick point of fact into this maelstrom of faux outrage about Democratic obstruction, and that is that the proposal that has been made to the Republicans to resolve the customary August jam-up where we clear nominees would actually put President Trump ahead of the number of appointees that Republicans had allowed President Biden at this same time in his Presidency.”

“Mr. President, today is kind of an exceptional day. It is the 60th anniversary of the Medicare and Medicaid Act, which created two of the most successful programs for families really that the world has ever seen.”

“Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague from the Mountain State of West Virginia to talk about permitting reform. People listening should know that we work together well, that I like her personally, and that I am grateful to her for her support of important Rhode Island projects that we have gotten cleared.”

“Last, there are going to be questions asked about those two Trump judges and why the administrative stay and why for 3 months and why the amazing coincidence that those 3 months of administrative stay was the period that it took to pick up this character, shove him through the nominations process, shove him through the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee, and stuff him onto the bench without that hearing taking place.”

“Madam President, I am here to speak to the nomination of David Wright to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and to express my opposition. Not only will I be casting my vote against the nomination of Mr.”

“Mr. President, there is a legend about a woman who finds an injured snake by the side of the path, and she picks it up to take care of it.”

“Mr. President, the Trump corruption of the Environmental Protection Agency continues apace, so I am here today in opposition to the nomination of Aaron Szabo to serve as the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation over at EPA.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate and wish a very happy 90th birthday to Paula Bradley, who serves as a senior field representative in my Providence office.”

“Mr. President, first of all, thank you, Senator Murkowski. I rise today for the 300th time with my trusty, increasingly battered ``Time to Wake Up'' chart to try to rouse this Chamber to the looming dangers caused by fossil fuel pollution.”

“When danger looms, it is irresponsible to wait until everybody sees the danger to give warning. If it was your house on fire, would you wait around for your family to wake up and ask for your help?”

“Protector Agency''--illegally terminated billions for clean energy products around the country. It set up California's Clean Air Act vehicle emissions standards to be killed by the Congressional Review Act, a gambit first floated by fossil fuel industry lawyers in an op-ed in the polluter-run Wall Street Journal's editorial page.”

“Mr. President, as ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, I wish to correct the record on one small piece of the big, terrible bill that the Senate barely passed last week and which the President signed into law on July 4.”

“The majority did express concern about EPA prevailing in litigation and suddenly having nearly $20 billion back and, for this reason, pushed to repeal the language. But the fact of the matter is, section 60002 only rescinded EPA's administrative dollars and not a cent of the grant funding.”

“Mr. President, in this place where big money now rules and in which fakery is now the order of the day and numbers no longer have to be real, there is one point that stands out, and that is that the fakery on the floor is belied by the language of the bill.”

“Thank you, Senator Merkley. I mentioned earlier the history of the section that the Republican Budget chairman is using to perform this multitrillion-dollar magical act of making huge, deficit-busting numbers disappear.”

“When I was budget chairman and we were trying to focus, for instance, on the impending economic nightmare coming our way through climate-caused property insurance failures, what I would get is nonstop regular lectures from Republicans on the Budget Committee about how we had to take responsibility for the deficit, we had to reduce the debt.”

“The bill, actually, is required to raise the debt limit by $5 trillion. So, in reality, there is a huge hit to our debt, huge additions to our deficit.”

“I would only add as my last words: Watch. Everybody who is here, watch as this goes forward, because we will give the Republicans a chance to reduce the increase to the debt and the deficit by peeling back just the tax cuts for the greedy billionaires.”

“Mr. President, I rise today--and I will confess, I rise today a bit angry about this bill--this bill cooked up in back rooms, dropped at midnight, cloaked in fake numbers, with huge handouts to big Republican donors.”

“Madam President, I will say that I am here today because we are about to go to the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of David Fotouhi to serve as the Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and I very much hope that colleagues will oppose his nomination because he is, essentially, 100 percent on the side of the polluters and not interested in protecting the public health or the public safety or the public's well-being.”

“Mr. President, I take the Senate back to June 9 of 1772, and I read from Rory Raven's ``Burning the Gaspee.'' A handful of longboats glided across the water on a moonless night.”

“Unwilling to trust a local judge, he sent the Fortune round to Boston, a step of doubtful legality that only made matters worse. Unwittingly, the Gaspee had antagonized a family of Rhode Islanders who embodied all the values for which the colony stood.”

“Commanded by Lieutenant William Dudingston, a Scottish naval officer, the Gaspee sailed into Narragansett Bay in early 1772, seeking to enforce trade laws that the American colonists were increasingly flouting.”

“And you can recognize the picture I just showed you, it is in the article, and it does quite a good job of putting into context this rebellious act by Rhode Island that took place nearly a year before the Boston Tea Party and yet is mostly overlooked by historians.”

“As the Gaspee's cannon fired from its rails. Evading the Gaspee's cannon balls, The Hannah sailed for the Namquid shoals. Fast and light, Hannah crossed the shallow, But when the Gaspee attempted to follow, She ran aground on the Warwick shore, In a falling tide, and could move no more.”

“Mr. President, the series of votes that we have concluded in the last 24 hours, with the last vote that just concluded, brings to its completion a sad and a sordid moment in the history of the Senate.”

“The first action was taken on July 11, 1968, by the EPA--so 50-plus years ago. The most recent one, until our current procedural rigmarole, was December 17, 2024--a week before Christmas, last year.”

“Act, which requires 30 signatures to get in. You can go back to any Executive action taken since the passage of the Congressional Review Act, and you can drop that into the Federal Register and submit it here and say it is a rule.”

“Mr. President, today, the Senate has done something unprecedented. Our actions and the ones that will follow from the procedural steps taken here today, over the next day or so, will change the Clean Air Act, will change the Congressional Review Act, will change the rules of the Senate, and will do so by overruling the Parliamentarian and breaking the filibuster.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate Colonel Ron Barnes on his retirement after serving 20 years as commanding officer of the Pawtuxet Rangers. The Pawtuxet Rangers are among the oldest existing chartered commands in the United States and the most active of Rhode Island's historic militia groups.”

“Mr. President, let me describe what I think is going on here on the Senate floor. Today is an unusual and interesting day. What we understood the plan was, was that the majority was going to move to the Congressional Review Act regarding the California clean air rule in an effort to overrule the Clean Air Act rule for the fossil fuel industry, which the majority so diligently serves.”

“In a sense, this is like a double nuclear option. They are going to overrule the Parliamentarian to create a new point of order under the CRA that will amend, in effect, the CRA.”

“Mr. President, now this is always good to remember because it wasn't always this way with President Trump. Here in 2009, there was a full-page ad in the New York Times.”

“Freddie Mac is a mortgage giant. It knows what is needed for a mortgage. What is needed for a mortgage is an insurance policy. No insurance policy, no mortgage.”

“If a whole bunch of properties won't sustain a mortgage any longer, that shrinks the market, so there is less revenue to be had for the banking industry.”

“Credit markets freeze. This is a climate-induced credit crunch. He also points out in his article something that I hadn't paid attention to. I was looking at the ``insurance to mortgage to property values'' crash.”

“Brazil. They have come from all the way down in Patagonia. They have flown up to Brazil, and then they go from Brazil over the water to Delaware Bay.”

“Madam President, notwithstanding the distinguished majority leader's accusations of mendacity and hypocrisy and misrepresentation, the facts at heart here are quite simple: The waiver at issue is not a rule and was never a rule.”

“Mr. President, is it true that unless a piece of legislation is privileged under a rule or a statutory provision or is the subject of a unanimous consent agreement, motions to proceed to that legislation are generally fully debatable?”

“Is it commonplace for Senate offices and for whichever Senator is presiding over the Senate to consult with the Parliamentarian to determine whether and in what manner expedited procedures apply under a host of statutes, including the War Powers Act, the National Emergencies Act, the Congressional Budget Act, and the Congressional Review Act?”

“Again, for those of you following this at home, that means that this is the commonplace way in which the Senate operates and when it becomes the Parliamentarian's call on a matter and not anyone else's call.”

“Mr. President, let me start with just a quick overview of the Congressional Review Act which brings us here to the floor today. Under the American legal system, administrative Agencies can make rules, and there is a very robust process for doing so.”

“And GAO was not even in the room. That stage was long since passed. The reason we are here is to overrule the Parliamentarian. The reason for overruling the Parliamentarian is to get a simple majority to get around this.”

“Mr. President, I join my senior Senator today to honor our friend Dominick Ruggerio, who was both president and the dean of the Rhode Island Senate. President Ruggerio, who passed away last month, was affectionately known as ``Donny.'' He leaves behind his children Amanda and Charles and four beloved grandchildren.”

“Mr. President, I rise to oppose the nomination of Sean Donahue of Florida to serve as General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Donahue may be the most unfit nominee ever for any Federal Agency general counsel.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, as the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, it is my understanding that there is a pretty longstanding tradition at the EPW that we get the background check before someone comes to the vote, as my distinguished friend from Wyoming has said.”

“Mr. President, first, both of my colleagues from California are here, and I want to thank them for coming to the floor today to talk about this important matter in which Republicans want to appease their donors, and they want to break basically two Senate rules in order to get there--not just one, but two.”

“Mr. President, I come to the Senate floor today for the 298th time in my ``Time to Wake Up'' speech series to once again call attention to the looming climate calamity.”

“In yet another of many attempts to unravel protections for human health and the environment, and in their endless quest to accommodate the country's biggest polluters, Republicans in the Senate are seeking congressional disapproval for EPA's final rule setting national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants for rubber tire manufacturing.”

“Madam President, I am pleased to supplement the remarks of our distinguished leader with respect to Social Security. Rhode Island has I believe the largest participation per capita in Social Security in the country.”

“Mr. President, let me thank our Democratic leader for that very kind intro. I will confess that I come to the Senate floor today with a pretty heavy heart.”

“You see here how they use the ocean tearing away at the underpinnings of the real estate. He was looking at coastal property risks. He was talking about a coastal property values crash.”

“The impact of climate change on housing and housing finance depends on the answers to these and other questions. And the answers depend on the actions taken--or avoided--by governments, businesses and individuals.”

“I was here for your point about mental health and addiction recovery care. As you will recall, you and I and others worked together to get the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act passed.”

“There is a doctrine or a principle that is kind of a tedious economic term, ``marginal utility of money.'' What it means, in very plain terms, is that if you make $60,000 a year, your last thousand dollars of income is a big deal to you.”

“Medicaid--which, as you pointed out, serves a quarter of American households and is essential to most households because it is granny's nursing home care, it is your sister's or wife's childbirth delivery in the hospital, or it is your colleague or friend or family member's opioid recovery treatment--swept away for unnecessary and unfair tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations.”

“Particularly when there is so much money to be made. So much flows through Social Security. If you take it over by wrecking it and then sending in your private-equity friends and tech bros to get it operational again and then let them slice off a share for themselves by privatizing either it or its operations, you have created a massive new revenue stream for the superrich.”

“Mr. President, I am here in support of Senator Kaine's effort to get this body to take a public view on President Trump's mad declaration that we have a border emergency with Canada happening right now.”

“Madam President, I am here for the 35th time to call attention to the rightwing scheme to capture our courts and justice system, now out to target and persecute Trump political enemies and do Trump political favors.”

“One of the ways in which I try to discuss what is going on in this country--when people are horrified, anxious, astonished, whatever--is to describe it as the rule of the looters and the polluters.”

“And they do it by taking their billions and running it through phony front groups so it pops up as dark money in elections. And of course, the beneficiary of the dark money, the candidate, figures out exactly who is behind the big dark money contribution that ends up in the super PAC that is supporting them.”

“So bad enough that they are here arguing for excess benefits for themselves compared to regular Americans; worse, they are using dark money corruption to get there. So how is that patriotic?”

“Works Committee, he pledged to ``work with the scientists'' and ``leave the science to the scientists.'' What happened to that Lee Zeldin? Where did he go? Because the Lee Zeldin of January has been replaced by a Lee Zeldin willing to ignore his own scientists and ignore the facts for the benefit of President Trump's Big Polluter donors.”

“Well, you referenced the value to the fossil fuel industry of being able to run to Congress or run to the White House and throw money around and, as a result of that expenditure on politicians, earn the right to pollute for free and get enormous competitive advantage against clean energy.”

“I would not be surprised, actually, if the political lobbying and dark money influence operation of the fossil fuel industry was not actually its most lucrative line of business because for the $1 billion or $6 billion or $7 billion spent manipulating our politics, they protect a $700 billion annual subsidy, according to the International Monetary Fund.”

“And we welcome our colleague from Connecticut to join the festivities here on the Senate floor. All three States are downwind States from the pollution of the Midwest, of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio.”

“Well, it means that the prevailing winds that blow over West Virginia, that blow over Pennsylvania, that blow over Ohio, blow over their smoke stacks that have been deliberately built high into the air so that the pollution coming out of the smoke stacks gets caught up in those prevailing winds and ends up falling down in the form of ozone and particulate matter in Massachusetts, in Connecticut, and in Rhode Island.”

“I am delighted to be joined by all of you. I would make an observation of my own. I think Senator Blumenthal wants to join in. The observation I want to make is our three States are known for great universities--Yale University in New Haven, CT; Harvard University in Cambridge, MA; and Brown University in Providence, RI.”

“I thank my colleagues for their colloquy. I see the Senator from South Carolina, whose time we are intruding on, has come to the floor. We yield to Senator Scott.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to mark the centennial of the Probation Act, which was signed into law on March 4, 1925. The law allowed Federal judges to include probation as part of a person's sentence, leading to the creation of the Federal probation system that we rely on today.”

“Mr. President, as my colleagues know, since 1996, the Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801-808, has provided an important tool for Congress to provide a check on certain Agency rules.”

“Mr. President, I want to thank our chairman for bringing us together on the Senate floor today to reaffirm a proposition that really ought not to be in any doubt, and that is the proposition that when a court has ruled on a matter, the executive and legislative branches are bound to follow the law.”

“X a cohort of extremists and oddballs who he can launch by targeting an individual to go and attack and harass that individual and their family. He did precisely that to this judge to the point where the judge's daughter was actually doxed by one of these extremist followers of Musk.”

“Mr. President, I am here today in opposition to the measure that we are about to vote on, which would undo a rule that regulates the release of methane into the atmosphere.”

“Mr. President, today is a sad and discouraging--even disgraceful--day here in the Senate. The vote that we have just taken signals the utter and complete subservience of the Trump administration and the Republican Party to the polluters of the fossil fuel industry.”

“Mr. President, I am here to join my distinguished colleague from California in opposition to the nomination of Kash Patel and to make crystal clear to this body what he is going to do in that job.”

“Mr. President, I am here to speak in opposition to the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to serve as the Director of National Intelligence of the United States of America.”

“Mr. President, well, we are in interesting times, and we are beginning to see the corporate and billionaire takeover of the U.S. Government. And in that corporate and billionaire takeover of the U.S.”

“Who else is a senior fellow there, funded by the billionaires? Oh, Mark Paoletta, the guy who is going to be his legal counsel and was chumming it up with the billionaire and the Justice.”

“Budget Committee. Here is where we are seeing massive non-renewal rate increases. That is the insurance companies telling people who have paid their premiums for years: You are fired.”

“Mr. President, I sit on the Judiciary Committee and was present for the confirmation hearing of Pam Bondi in her quest to be Attorney General of the United States.”

“Mr. President, I am a friend of the distinguished Senator from Wyoming, but on this matter, we disagree quite a lot. I think, clearly, everybody likes clean air and clean water.”

“Mr. President, I think this is my first time with you presiding, so it is good to see you. This power grab--this attempted power grab--that took place today in flagrant disregard for our separation of powers has a home not in the Constitution but in Project 2025.”

“Mr. President, many of us who were here on January 6 have pretty indelible memories. I am looking at Senator Murray, who has particularly harrowing memories. One of mine is, I was one of the last people out of the Senate, and by the time we got to the room where we were sequestered for our own protection from the mob, colleagues were irate, and they had been frightened.”

“Madam President, I am here to add some thoughts regarding the vote we are going to have on Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. Of course, as a Rhode Island junior Senator, I am very cognizant of the important role that my senior Senator Jack Reed has had on the committee of jurisdiction, the Senate Armed Services Committee.”

“Mr. President, I rise now for the 296th time to direct our attention to what is coming at us through fossil fuel emissions causing our natural systems to be significantly disturbed.”

“So the concern here is cascading failures--cascading failures from the insurance market, to the mortgage market, to a property values collapse, and that ends in economy-wide catastrophe. Along the way, home ownership will move further out of reach for the middle class as homes are burdened with more risk and expense.”

“Madam President, I would make the point to my friend from Massachusetts that when Democrats used reconciliation, we used the reconciliation process to do the Inflation Reduction Act and help everyone.”