The Senate Environment and Public Works committee took testimony on Wednesday from leading scientists on mounting evidence that extreme weather and climate change are linked. "It is critical to understand that the link between climate change and the kinds of extremes that lead to disaster is clear," one of the experts, Christopher Field, told the panel. At the same hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders asked the scientists about assertions by Sen. James Inhofe, the panel's ranking Republican, that climate change is a hoax, that the planet is really cooling, and that global warming is a conspiracy by the UN, Al Gore, and Hollywood. "The scientists did not support Inhofe's claims," according to a report by the Guardian.