On January 14, a group of 18 senators held a news conference to formally announce the formation of the Senate Climate Action Task Force. To date, the task force includes 16 Democratic senators and two independents who caucus with the Democrats. The effort will begin with a series of press conferences, floor speeches, engagements with outside groups and promotion of climate-related legislation. According to a press release by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the first action of the group will be to ask the Sunday news programs why they have ignored the climate change issue.
As reported in AMWA’s January 13 Monday Morning Briefing, one of the key purposes of the task force will be to work toward legislating a cap or tax on greenhouse gas emissions. At the news conference, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) noted that while it has become difficult to pass climate change legislation, the group “aims to raise the visibility of this issue with the intent of changing minds around here.”