On Monday night into Tuesday morning, two dozen Senate Democrats — members of the party’s newly-formed Climate Action Task Force — plan to hold an all-night, filibuster-like talkathon on the issue of global warming. “Congress must act,” Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, a leader of the group, said in a statement. “On Monday night we’re going to show the growing number of senators who are committed to working together to confront climate change.”
Senator after senator will undoubtedly join Schatz in insisting that Congress must act. But the Democratic talkathon is not about any action in particular. It’s not being staged in support of, or opposition to, any specific legislative proposal. And if there were proposed legislation under consideration, Democrats could just pass it, or at least bring it up for debate and a vote, because they control the Senate with a 55-seat majority. But that, apparently, is not the point of the all-nighter. “The Democratic effort is cause for some confusion,” USA Today reported over the weekend, “because these senators are calling for action in a chamber they control but without any specific legislation to offer up for a vote, or any timetable for action this year.”
