mr. whitehouse: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: madam president, shakespeare's play "hamlet" began with "something is rotten in denmark." well, something rotten in congress. and what is is rotten in congress is dark money. citizens united, perhaps one of the most foolish decisions ever rendered by the united states supreme court, opened unlimited spending into our politics, which benefits who? it benefits those who have unlimited money to spend and a motive to spend it in politics. madam president, that is not a group of people whose voices were not being heard here already. that is the favorite group. but citizens united opened the doors for them to spend unlimited money, and then the supreme court failed to police its own decision. it's own decision said that this up limited decision was going to be transparent to the public. we will, they're 0-2. it's been a decade and they've never even tried to enforce these basic predicates of their decision. it is a shameful, shameful effort by the court. and now, as a result, we

mr. whitehouse: if the senate is? a quorum call, may i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, i'm here today for the 267th time to call this chamber to wake up to the threat of climate change. it's getting a little dog-eared with use, my chart here. let me dive right in with a report from over 30 years ago that was presented to a major conference here in washington, d.c., on the very first page of this report it says, and i'll quote it here, increases in atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and other key gases that are opaque to portions of the infrared spectrum result in the greenhouse effect, or global warming. when shortwave length infrared radiation from the sun warms the earth's surface and this heat is later radiated from the earth, some gases in the atmosphere are not transparent to the longer wavelength reradiation. the heat does not escape and the atmosphere becomes warmer, much as does the interior of a greenhouse, e

mr. whitehouse: the warnings, mr. president, are serious. they come from some of our foremost financial experts. so let's walk through what we have in store if we keep sleepwalking through the climate crisis. warning one, as i said, coastal property value crash. freddie mac, not an environmental organization, the giant mortgage company, warned that rising sea levels will prompt a crash in coastal property values worse than the housing crash that triggered the 2008 financial crisis. first street foundation found that rising seas have already caused $16 billion in lost property values in coastal homes from maine to texas. moody's, the bond rating agency, has warned that climate risk will trigger downgrades in coastal communities bond ratings black rock, the biggest asset manager in the world, estimated that by the end of the century, climate change will cause coastal communities annual losses averaging up to 15% of local g.d.p. averaging up to 15% of local g.d.p. with hardest-hit communities obviously hit far worse. hello, florida. warning two