Climate Change Senate Marathon

The US Senate Democrats (28 of 55) are holding an overnight talkathon on the reality of climate change and urging legislation to deal with it, which sadly won't happen any time soon given the poisonous divisions in congress and the massive money behind the fossil fuel industry.  Both Oregon Senators Wyden and Merkley are in attendance. 

The full list of Senators attending are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md.; Bernard Sanders, I-Vt.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Mark Udall, D-Colo.; Tom Udall, D-N.M.; Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Al Franken, D-Minn.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Angus King, I-Maine; Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; and Edward Markey, D-Mass.

Here are some interesting stats on the GOP point of view on Climate Change.

Republicans going to bed

Predictably, Republicans in Congress will not be joining in tonight’s events on the Senate floor. A majority of Republicans in Congress deny the existence of climate change or oppose action on climate change. The Center for American Progress has done a good job tracking congressional Republicans’ views on climate change.
By their count, 56% of Republicans in the house deny the existence of climate change or oppose action on climate change, and 65% of the Republican caucus in the Senate.
The numbers are even higher in the Republican leadership:

• 90 percent of the Republican leadership in both House and Senate deny climate change
• 17 out of 22 Republican members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, or 77 percent, are climate deniers
• 22 out of 30 Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, or 73 percent deny the reality of climate change
• 100 percent of Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans have said climate change is not happening or that humans do not cause it