A Heritage Foundation expert called out Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) over his membership in an all-white beach club this week.

The accusation came during congressional testimony on Thursday that also noted the senator's wealth holding personal ties to fossil fuels during the climate change discussion.

https://twitter.com/matthewbendett/status/1654353685177319424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The Comments

"I don’t have the benefit of being able to rely on a family fortune made in the Minnesota gas business, or having my spouse’s family fortune come from United Gas," Diana Furchtgott-Roth told Whitehouse on Wednesday at a Senate Budget Committee hearing.

"And The Heritage Foundation is a club that anyone can join, not just White people," she added. "During 2021, it had hundreds of thousands of individual, foundation and corporate supporters representing every state in the United States," she added.

Think tank scholar calls out Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s membership at alleged all-white beach club https://t.co/x3MbBTTWZO pic.twitter.com/iD4KYlnduu

— New York Post (@nypost) May 4, 2023

The Background

"When Whitehouse, who was first elected in 2006, initially ran for his Senate seat, he disavowed his membership and pledged to quit the club, according to GoLocal Providence, but never did," the New York Post reported.

"According to the outlet the senator and his wife’s membership in Bailey’s goes back generations," it added. "As of 2021, his wife, Sandra Whitehouse, is one of the three largest shareholders in the club."

.@SenWhitehouse is attacking me for being too... competent? This attack was old in 2014 and it's old today. Unlike you, I have worked for everything that I have and did not have the privilege and fortune of grandparents who owned a gas company. pic.twitter.com/s5Ab7LD276

— Diana Furchtgott-Roth (@DFR_Economics) May 3, 2023

Furchtgott-Roth also took to Twitter to share the video and oppose the senator's attacks against her.

"@SenWhitehouse is attacking me for being too... competent? This attack was old in 2014 and it's old today," she tweeted.

"Unlike you, I have worked for everything that I have and did not have the privilege and fortune of grandparents who owned a gas company," she added.

She also cited a 2014 article by the senator that showed his attack from a Washington Examiner article nearly a decade ago. "Can't his team give him new talking points?" she added.

The concerns continue to plague the senator as his party claims to be the side of diversity and inclusion ahead of the 2024 election.

The problems also extend to complications over climate change. Democrats continue to push progressive initiatives in the area while sometimes holding major financial connections to oil and gas companies, as Whitehouse's family reportedly does.

The attacks during a climate-related hearing add further embarrassment to the topic, offering a strong contrast with the Heritage Foundation which notes only 1% of its donations coming from the top five corporate givers.

The update further exposes the hypocrisy of the senator whose arguments for climate change directly contradict his own decisions and finances.