Donald Trump disproved the notion that there is a direct dollar-for-dollar correlation between how much money you had in your traditional war chest and what your election outcome was going to be. Sheldon Whitehouse More Quotes by Sheldon Whitehouse More Quotes From Sheldon Whitehouse Talking to my Senate Republican colleagues about climate change is like talking to prisoners about escaping. The conversations are often private, even furtive. Sheldon Whitehouse like colleagues climate-change change Fossil fuel companies and their allies are funding a massive and sophisticated campaign to mislead the American people about the environmental harm caused by carbon pollution. Sheldon Whitehouse about pollution environmental people You can measure the warming oceans with a thermometer. You measure sea level rise with a yardstick. You can measure the dramatic increase in acidification with a simple pH test, and you can replicate what excess CO2 does to seawater in a basic high school science lab. Sheldon Whitehouse you simple sea science The fossil fuel industry maintains a science denial operation and a political influence operation designed to do just that. What's good for their business is more important to them than what's good for America. Sheldon Whitehouse good political business science The fossil fuel industry has been a particular disgrace, polluting our politics as well as our planet. Sheldon Whitehouse planet well industry politics The 'Wall Street Journal' is quite irate that I rank them with industry front groups and cranks denying climate change. But they have a record whenever industrial pollutants are involved. Look at the 'Journal''s commentary on acid rain, on the ozone layer, and on climate change. Sheldon Whitehouse look climate-change change rain Millions upon millions of secret spending by the fossil fuel industry that was unleashed by the disastrous 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision - this money not only fuels the campaigns of many candidates; it also represents a threat to those who don't toe the polluter line on climate change. Sheldon Whitehouse climate-change money decision change To be clear, I don't know whether the fossil fuel industry and its allies engaged in the same kind of racketeering activity as the tobacco industry. We don't have enough information to make that conclusion. Perhaps it's all smoke and no fire. But there's an awful lot of smoke. Sheldon Whitehouse know smoke information fire When you don't have accountability, there's no limit to the things that people will say. One of the restraints on the vitriol and the filth that so often is part of the American political debate is that candidates have to stand by their ads. Sheldon Whitehouse you debate political people The Founding Fathers set up the American judiciary as a check on the excesses of the elected branches and as a refuge when those branches are corrupted or consumed by passing passions. Sheldon Whitehouse check american up judiciary If everyone on the Court always voted for the prosecution against the defendant, for the corporation against the plaintiffs, and for the government against the condemned, a vital spark of American democracy would be extinguished. Sheldon Whitehouse spark always democracy government We cannot solve the deficit crisis on the back of our seniors. We need all Americans to pay their fair share. Sheldon Whitehouse seniors need back crisis I've met students across Rhode Island who rely on Pell Grants. They work hard, play by rules, and are doing everything they can to get the education they need for the jobs of tomorrow. Sheldon Whitehouse work-hard tomorrow education work I am gravely concerned about climate change. Sheldon Whitehouse i-am about climate-change change The dirty secret is that climate change is not really a partisan issue in Congress. Sheldon Whitehouse climate-change change secret dirty Not only will a carbon fee reduce carbon emissions, it will force big polluters to pay for the damage their pollution does to public health and the environment, generating billions in new revenue for the American people. Sheldon Whitehouse new pollution health people