Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse had hoped for a Democratic governing trifecta in 2025, where he could lay the groundwork for another major climate bill, subpoena the executives of leading oil companies and advance legislation to impose a tax on carbon.
Instead, the Rhode Island Democrat will watch his party be thrust back into the minority across Washington — and lose his chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee, which he has turned into a de facto climate panel.
That reality is making Whitehouse recalibrate his best options for sounding the alarm on the cost of climate inaction. In an interview, the senator confirmed he anticipates becoming the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, succeeding retiring Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.).
First on his new to-do list: releasing an exhaustive report summarizing the Budget panel’s work over the past two years.
