Conversation with Sheldon Whitehouse

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse makes numerous appearances on Aquidneck Island to talk about important issues.

Re-elected to a third term in No­vember, U. S. Sen. Sheldon White­house is known for defending Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and making over 200 “Time to Wake Up” climate speeches on the Sen­ate floor. The former U.S. Attorney (1993-1998) and Attorney General of Rhode Island (1999-2003) serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Environment and Public Works, where he focuses on clean air, water and infrastructure.

The son of a diplomat, Whitehouse grew up in various locations around the world where his father was sta­tioned, always maintaining a home base in Newport. When the Senate is not in session, Whitehouse, whose fa­vorite pastime is sailing, spends time in Rhode Island with his wife, Sandra, a marine biologist, and their two chil­dren, Molly and Alexander.

A staunch advocate of campaign finance reform and getting dark money out of politics, Whitehouse said he might be the only U.S. sena­tor who isn’t running for president in 2020. He recently talked with New­port This Week about the local ef­fects of climate change, expanding Social Security, infrastructure and one of his favorite places in the City By the Sea.

What are some of the biggest climate threats to our area?

Flooding from sea level rise is probably the biggest certain threat. Sea levels will continue to climb. We just saw the First Street Foun­dation’s study on how property val­ues on the Rhode Island coast are already starting to suffer. The chief economist of Freddie Mac [the Fed­eral Home Loan Mortgage Corpora­tion] has been warning of a very se­rious coastal property value crash. If a home isn’t going to be around in 30 years because of flooding, that affects the mortgage business. And there’s the terrible prospect of another hurricane of 1938-type storm, which would likely be stron­ger today if it were coming at us over warmer seas. We’ve also had 10 extra inches of sea level rise since then, according to the Naval Station Newport tide gauge. So, the ramifications could actually be a lot worse than the hurricane of ‘38.

What can be done to prevent this?

Not a whole lot. But if you look at the work that the Newport Res­toration Foundation did in the Point area of Newport, you can see that there are some measures that could be applied [such as raising equipment, houses or an entire neighborhood]. It’s an extensive proposition and not easy. But the report on the Point street area is one of the best pieces of work on preparing a historic neighborhood for ocean flooding that anyone has done anywhere.

Are you still in favor of expand­ing Social Security?

Right now, defending Social Security is job one. But I do think expanding it would be helpful, particularly fixing the [cost of liv­ing] increase that Social Security recipients sometimes get, but very often their Medicare contribution increases just as much.

I’ve been fighting a long time to change the basket of goods that determines what the cost of living increase should be. The cost-of- living factor is driven down by the massive reduction in the price of electronics, many of which senior citizens don’t spend a lot of money on. The things that seniors count on, food, shelter, electricity, are on a different cost trajectory than the electronics.

Do you think any major legisla­tion will pass in Washington be­fore 2020?

Now that the shutdown show­down is over, the Democrats in the House are going to be very keen to move to an infrastructure bill to fix roads, bridges and water systems. We’ve talked about it for a long time both in the House and in the Senate. So, I would look for­ward to both hearings and a bill of something quite significant on infrastructure as an early priority in the new Democratic House.

Are you still looking into using Rhode Island-made materials for infrastructure projects?

Yes. We have some of the best composite manufacturers in the world here in Rhode Island. When Elon Musk was sending rockets into space, he had parts made in Rhode Island by our composite companies. And the fastest boats in the most difficult sailing races around the world use them. We’ve got [more than 45 companies] that are really good at this here, and we’re working on ways to allow them to incorporate their work into other infrastructure projects, where, steel for instance, can be replaced by composite in every­thing from street lamps to railings. When you count the maintenance, composites could very well last longer and be less expensive … A bike and walking path off of the Newport Bridge made of Rhode Island composites could be a great example to all who visit of an area of expertise that we have.

What’s one of your favorite plac­es in Newport?

The Adirondack chairs on the Castle Hill Inn lawn are pretty great on a summer evening.