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WASHINGTON Few senators have been as vocal about the issue of climate change as Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

The three-term progressive Democrat has given a speech from the Senate floor almost every week the chamber has been in session since 2012, warning about the dangers of global warming, rising oceans and the influential fossil fuel industry bent on impeding bipartisan action to combat climate change.

On Wednesday, after 279 speeches about why its time to wake up as a country and finally confront the slow-rolling global disaster, Whitehouse dropped the mic literally and retired the long-running series.

The conditions are at last at last in place for a real solution. A new dawn is breaking, and when its dawn, theres no need for my little candle against the darkness, Whitehouse said. So instead of urging that its time to wake up, I close this long run by saying now its time to get to work.

Whitehouse cited Joe Biden s administration, which has pledged bold action on climate change, as a reason he would no longer be delivering weekly speeches on the topic.

Sheldon Whitehouse literally drops his lapel mic as he ends his 279th and final Time to Wake Up speech. pic.twitter.com/kbSygGIciI

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Sheldon Whitehouse literally drops his lapel mic as he ends his 279th and final Time to Wake Up speech. pic.twitter.com/kbSygGIciI
Chris Cioffi (@ReporterCioffi) January 27, 2021

Biden signed several executive orders on Wednesday pausing oil and gas leasing on federal land and targeting subsidies for those industries. The actions also aim to double the nations offshore wind energy and move to an all-electric federal vehicle fleet, according to The Associated Press .

Democrats are hoping Biden will go even further to advance his climate agenda. Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) encouraged Biden to declare a national emergency when it comes to the climate, following President Donald Trump s declaration of a national emergency on the border. Trump used the emergency powers to unilaterally reappropriate funding for the construction of a border wall without the approval of Congress.

He can do many, many things under the emergency powers ... that he could do without legislation, Schumer said of Biden in an interview with MSNBC s Rachel Maddow .

Bidens administration is planning to take more action to address climate change in the new presidents infrastructure package, which is set to be unveiled in the coming months. But climate hawks like Whitehouse believe Democrats should tackle the issue head-on in a comprehensive climate bill. House Democrats passed a historic climate and energy bill in 2009 , but it never got a vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate at the time, primarily because the party feared the political blowback from Republicans.

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