It is the heart of gold that come from the people in this beautifully picturesque and again amazing place. Its a great honor to celebrate talkeetnas centennial today here in the United States senate. And with that, mr. President , i yield the floor. Gram mr. President . The presiding officer the mr. Graham mr. President . The presiding officer the senator South CarolinaProgram Program i wish i could go. I wish to see that before i die. In three minutes the final game of the championship round of the College World series takes place. Coastal carolina is playing the university of arizona. Coastal carolina is a very relatively small school in myrtle beach. Dustin johnson is a graduate. This Baseball Team is inspiring. Arizona and Coastal Carolina have had a great to games. Tonight is the rubber match, winner take all. I dont know whats going to happen, if Coastal Carolina falls short, youve won in every way you can win. It has been the most exciting world series i can remember. South carolina won back to back World Championships but Coastal Carolina, i know everybody in South Carolina is very proud. All the fans are very excited. The best pitcher is on the mound tonight. So go and im going to go home and watch the baseball game. I want to thank senator whitehouse for letting me say that. Mr. Whitehouse mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from rhode island. Mr. Whitehouse im delighted to let senator graham celebrate an achievement by his home state university. Im pleased to yield him the time. Im here as the presiding officer knows now for the 142nd time to urge congress to wake up to the threat of Climate Change. We are asleep at the wheel in Congress Heading toward climate catastrophe. Of course outside this chamber there is broad support for responsible Climate Action from the American People and from every major scientific society, indeed 31 of them just sent us a letter this week reminding us to get off our duff and Pay Attention to what the science is. Virtually every one of our home state universities, our national laboratories, nasa, noaa, and the military National Security and intelligence leadership of our country. If they are all wrong, that is a heck of a hoax. Frustratingly congress is still fogged in by a decades long purposeful campaign of deliberate misinformation out of the fossil fuel industry and its allies. And since Citizens United that Misinformation Campaign is backed up by unprecedented special interest political artillery. Outside the fossil fuel industry, there is of course broad support for action on Climate Change across corporate america. Leading businesses and executives vocally supported president obama on the paris agreement. Many are committed to getting on to a Sustainable Energy path. More than 150 major american firms signed the American Business act on climate pledge. Many are pushing their commitment outside of their corporate walls and out through their supply chains. But against these american corporate efforts on climate stand two major forces that claim to represent American Business. The wall street journal editorial page and the u. S. Chamber of commerce. The wall street journal editorial page claims to speak for the business community, Small Business owners, and industry titans alike, but it is way off base from the business communities commitment to addressing Climate Change. Its editorial page is constantly wrong about Climate Change from misstating the science of Climate Change to misstating the costs versus benefits of Climate Change to misstating the law when its carrying the industrys water to oppose civil investigations into whether the Industry Climate denial scheme amounts to fraud. Mr. Whitehouse its not new. The journal has a well worn playbook for defending polluting industries. Look at its commentaries over time on acid rain, on the ozone layer, and of course now on Climate Change. It is always wrong. And worse there is a pattern, a formula. Deny the science, question the motives of those calling for change, exaggerate the costs of taking action, and above all, above all protect the polluting industry. Ive said all this before but now theres a study that quantifies it. Climate nexus recent analysis of the wall street adjournals editorial page shows and i quote a consistent pattern that overwhelmingly ignores the science, champions doubt and denial of both the science and effectiveness of action, and leaves readers misinformed about the consensus of science and of the risks of the threat. The Analysis Finds that the opinion section has and i quote again done its readers a disservice by consently ignoring or ridiculing the science consensus on the reality and urgency of Climate Change. The editorial pages bias which is out off sync with virtually every single major scientific body and i quote the report again, cannot help but hinder its readers ability to make accurate assessments of the risk Climate Change poses to their businesses. Specifically the Climate Nexus analysis found that of 201 editorials relating to Climate Science or policy dating back to 1997, 201 editorials dating back to 1987, not one explicitly acknowledges that fossil fuels cause Climate Change. Of the 279 op eds pub op eds published since 1995, 40 represent a paltry 14 . And of 122 columns published since 1997, just four accept as fact that fossil fuels cause Climate Change or endorse a policy to reduce emissions. Out of 122 columns, four. It is laughable. Between april 2015 and may 2016 when global heat records were falling with regularity, the journal published 100 climaterelated op eds, columns and editorials. Only four opeds provided information reflecting main stream Climate Science. 96 pieces in the journals opinion section failed to acknowledge the link between human activity and Climate Change. Even exxonmobil and charles koch admit that link. Last january, for example, the page called recent extreme weather quote business as usual while clinging to the bogus hiatus argument that global temperature increases had halted. The Climate Nexus report illuminates a series of advertisements which have been placed where . On the wall street journal editorial page calling attention to this per post rouse preposterous bias. The first one reads exons c. E. O. Says fossil fuels are raising temperatures and sea levels. Why wont the wall street journal . The copy below goes on to say exxonmobil has called for a carbon price and they have. The c. E. O. s of b. P. , shell, total, state oil, b. G. Group and e. N. I. Called Climate Change quote a critical challenge for our world and also called for a price on carbon. It is time for the Editorial Board of wall street journal to become part of the solution on Climate Change. The next one says Carbon Dioxide traps heat on earth. And it goes on to say this isnt controversial. The head of exxonmobil and most Major Oil Companies agree along with every Scientific Academy in the world. Again a fact. The next one, the ergd is warmed. And we did it. It goes on to say, weve known for more than a century that adding more heat trapping Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere from fossil fuels will warm the planet. We have known that. Weve known that since Abraham Lincoln was president. So its not surprising that the planet keeps getting warmer although you may not have seen this fact on this page. And of course despite what you may have heard, there has been no pause. All of that is solid, clear science. The next ad that followed that, what goes up doesnt come down. Co2 emissions stay in the atmosphere for centuries and do one other thing that this advertisement mentions as well. The co2 emissions when theyre in the atmosphere above the oceans react chemically with the oceans. This is a reaction that you can replicate in a High School Chemistry lab. This is not debatable, negotiationable science. This is known, established science. And what it says is oceans are acidifying as a result. And they are. We measure that, and were measuring the fastest increase in acidification in the ocean in 50 million years. The one that followed that, your assets are at risk. Beware the carbon bubble. If you thought the housing bubble and crash of 2008 were bad, consider the carbon bubble, a ticking time bomb for fossil fuel company investors. And that is why so many conservative economists want to put a price on carbon, to speed the Clean Energy Transition while allowing the markets to cushion and adjust. And of course that is true. Every single conservative or republican who has fought the Climate Change problem through to the solution has come to the same solution which is a revenue neutral price on carbon. And here we go, their most recent ad, the free Market Solution to Climate Change. The c. E. O. s of giant, exxon, b. P. , state oil, total, e. N. I. , b. G. Group have all called for carbon pricing. Who have the leaders of many countries around the world. And indeed one wall street journal columnist quoted here, Holmon Jenkins calls a revenue neutral carbon tax our first best policy rewarding innovations by which humans would satisfy their energy needs while releasing less carbon into the atmosphere. So those are the advertisements that have been put on the wall street journal editorial page. Unfortunately, it takes people paying for space on the wall street journal editorial page to get the truth about Climate Change told on the wall street journal editorial page. These are straightforward, broadly accepted statements of the science of Climate Change. So if the wall street journal editorial page isnt acknowledging the views of cra den naturalled credentialed experts, who is it representing . Back to the Climate Nexus report and i quote, the wall street journal consistently highlights voices of those with vested interests in fossil fuels presenting only the dismissive side of the climate discussion. That undermines a readers ability to effect ill valuate climate risk, objectively assess potential solutions, and balance the two. The report calls the short shrift given to Climate Change quote a failure of journalistic responsibility. Look at its commentary on acid rain, on ozone layer and Climate Change. Always the same. Always wrong. You haveto wonder what service l street journal editorial page is providing to its readership since its record seems to rule out truth or balance or factuality. Maybe the short answer is that the service that the wall street journal editorial page is providing isnt a service to its readership. Lets turn to the other miss cree and the miscreant. You might wonder as well what service the u. S. Chamber of commerce provides to its members who have responsible Climate Change policies. The u. S. Chamber is the largest lobbying organization in the country, and its ou and its power in congress is fully dedicated to stopping any serious climate legislation. Everybody here sees the chambers hostility to climate legislation everywhere. My and senator warrens offices recently took a look at the lobbying positions of the u. S. Chamber of commerce compared with the positions of its own board members, with senators boxer, sanders, brown, merkley, blumenthal and markey, we release add report on our findings. Not one not one of the 108 Chamber Board members we contacted would endorse the u. S. Chambers lobbying on Climate Change not one. Our investigation found roughly half of the Companies Represented on the chambers board actually have strong proClimate Action positions, which contrast sharply with the chambers lobbying activities. We also found the chambers Decision Making about these policies to be awfully murky. The chamber describes its board as its quote principal governing and policymaking body but not one Chamber Board member asserted that they were fully aware of and able to provide their input and views to the chamber regarding its actions on climate. There was no sign of a board vote or any formal input. One company indicated that it quote was not advised of any campaigns and was not aware of any processes to lobbying against Climate Action by the chamber of commerce. Another Company Reported that and i quote the issues raised have not been discussed during the short time it has been a member of the organization. The chamber has aggressively lobbied for Climate Policies that are directly at odds with science Public Health, public opinion, and, with the results of this recent research, it turns out with most of its own board members. So again the question comes, whom are they serving . The center for responsive politics, a nonprofit, nonpartisan Research Group that tracks money spent on elections and lobbying found that in 2015 alone the chamber spent roughly 85 million on lobbying efforts. That is more than twice the amount spent by the secondhighest lobbying spending organization. Think for a moment of the progress that we could make here if the chambers lobbying muscle actually aligned with the positions of the businesses that the u. S. Chamber of commerce purports to represent. But we dont see that. Instead, we see the bullying menace of the fossil fuel Industry Holding sway in these halls. It appears to have captured the chamber. It appears to control the wall street journal editorial page. And, on the other side, there is virtually zero corporate lobbying effort for a good bipartisan climate bill. So the result here is not surprising. Indeed, its quite predictable when all the art tillry is on one side of a fight. All the artillery on the side of the fossil fuel industry. And the result is that members of congress who know better are afraid to act. Too many good companies, mr. President , are awol on Climate Change in congress. Too many have farmed out their lobbying to groups like the chamber of commerce that actually oppose their corporate Climate Policies. And too many wont speak up or answer back when the wall street journal editorial page purports to speak for them but emits only polluter nonsense. Well, mr. President , duty calls. Duty matters. It is time for privatesector leaders to step up and Tell Congress that those twin appendages of the fossil fuel industry do not represent chanorate america on climate. There is a change that could not come too soon. Mr. President , i yield the floor. And id note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call a senator mr. President , i rise the presiding officer the senate is in a quorum call. A senator i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. A senator mr. President , i rise tonight to talk about an issue that is facing every single state represented in this chamber. Mr. Portman every community in america. We talked this week about the potential zika epidemic. We have talked about the need for us to address that. I agree. But theres another epidemic that is already here. And that is this issue of prescription drugs and heroin, the addiction that follows, the overdoses that are too often occurring in our communities, the people who are losing their lives. And beyond the overdose deaths, the people who are casualties of this addiction who have seen their families be broken apart because of the addiction and because the drug becomes everything, unable to go to work. Weve seen the devastation in our communities in terms of the crime and the violence connected with the drug trade. And we have seen, unfortunately, babies increasingly being born with addiction in every Neonatal Unit in america now there are these babies. Certainly there are in my home state in ohio in every one of our hospitals,