Boxer, Whitehouse, and Senate Colleagues Kick Off New Initiative to “Wake Up Congress” on Climate Change

Washington, DC - During a press conference today, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), announced the members of a newly formed Senate Climate Action Task Force and discussed their plans to take action on climate change.
Click here to watch the video of today's press conference.

The members of the task force are listed below:

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Senator Tom Udall (D-NM)
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Senator Al Franken (D-MN)
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI)
Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT)
Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
Senator Angus King (I-ME)
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA)
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)

More like this

Just got this media release: Washington, DC – Today, Monday, from 4:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., tomorrow, Tuesday, from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and throughout the week,* 19 Senators will take to the Senate floor to call out Koch brothers- and fossil fuel industry-funded groups that have fashioned a web of…
The Specter-Harkin Amendment passed the Senate, but this does not guarantee an increase to the NIH budged. The House must still vote on it and it must be reflected in House and Senate Appropriations Committees' allocation for the Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee. (Don't…
Ten U.S. Senators stood up against a pointless expansion of secret wiretapping. Fourteen missed the vote, including several candidates for the Presidency: The heroes: Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Dodd (D-CT) Feingold (D-WI) Harkin (D-IA) Kerry (D-MA) Menendez (D-NJ)…
Via Cogitamus: The Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security will hold a Transportation Security Administration Oversight Hearing tomorrow. For more info: Jena Longo - Democratic Deputy Communications Director, (202) 224-8374 Nov 17 2010 - 10 AM Russell Senate Office Building…

Twenty Senators = a respectable starting number. I'm impressed.

We also need some smart Republicans who are willing to join up as well.

So whatever your party affiliation, this being an election year is a critical time to get active: register new voters, use the primaries for all they're worth, and promote candidates who can make the convincing case that rational climate policy is not only sound science, it's also sound economics.

The fact that Congress still needs to "wake up" on this issue is one of the most depressing things I've ever encountered. But there it is. Billions of dollars of oil money can buy a national snooze button that's apparently way bigger than science.

Very frustrating.

On a separate, but climate-related note, Greg, please take a look at this initiative aimed at getting musicians & performers all over the world to speak out forcefully about the climate crisis:

http://theclimatemessage.com/

Best wishes,

Warren Senders

By Warren Senders (not verified) on 08 Mar 2014 #permalink