Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., says that the oil and gas industry, spooked by shareholder advocacy, public pressure, and litigation, is nearing a breaking point that could lead to Congress passing major climate change policy.

“They are scared to death, and they see the day of reckoning happening a lot quicker than most people think,” Whitehouse said in an interview with the Washington Examiner in the Lyndon B. Johnson Room of the U.S. Capitol, occasionally sipping a cup of English breakfast tea as he assessed the industry he has made a political career out of attacking.