Wake-Up Call on Global Warming
In a dramatic gesture to urge action on climate change, Sen. Bernie Sanders and other members of the Senate Climate Action Task Force are pulling an all-nighter. They are speaking on the Senate floor from Monday night through Tuesday morning about global warming. “What we’re trying to do in terms of tonight is to make the American people aware that the debate about climate change really is over, that the scientific community is virtually unanimous in agreeing that climate change is real, that it is caused by human activity, that it is already causing devastating problems in the United States and around the world,” Sanders said Monday in an interview by Ronan Farrow on MSNBC.
“So many senators coming together for an all-night session shows our commitment to wake up Congress to the dangers of climate change,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate environment committee.
Sanders and Boxer have introduced the Climate Protection Act to tax the carbon and methane emissions that cause climate change. Their measure would encourage companies to move to cleaner forms of energy. Rebates to consumers would reduce the impact of the tax on their energy bills. The revenue also would be used to help invest in clean energy technologies. “As we transform our energy system away from fossil fuels, we must finally begin pricing carbon pollution emissions so that polluters themselves begin carrying the costs instead of passing them on to our children and our grandchildren,” Sanders said.
In addition to Sanders and Boxer, senators expected to participate include Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Charles Schumer of New York, Patty Murray of Washington, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Dianne Feinstein of California, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Bill Nelson of Florida, Maria Cantwell of Washington, Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Mark Udall of Colorado, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Kirsten Gillibrand of New YOr(D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Angus King (I-Maine), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
