© AP/Evan Vucci
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., talks with Senators during a meeting of the Senate Climate Action Task Force.
Senators have found plenty of common ground in an overnight debate about climate change that has been characterized by civil exchanges from lawmakers who hear plenty to like in each other's words. Could this really be happening in Washington?
Sure, when only one party shows up.
Democrats have been plowing through a dusk-to-dawn talkathon during which more than two dozen speakers have agreed with each other about the need for action on climate change. Naysayers - Republicans - largely stayed away.
"Climate change is real, it is caused by humans, and it is solvable," said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.
In Schatz's view, the debate, such as it was, showed that a growing number of senators are committed to working together on climate change, even if no Republicans were among them. "This is where intractable, longstanding issues get solved," he said of the Senate.
Despite that bravado, Democratic leaders made it clear they have no plans to bring a climate bill to the Senate floor this year. Indeed, the issue is so politically charged that a host of Democrats who face tough re-election fights in the fall opted to skip the session. Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Begich of Alaska and Kay Hagan of North Carolina were among Democrats who stayed away.
