By Snejana Farberov
Six congressional staffers were arrested on Capitol Hill on Monday after staging a sit-in at the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, demanding legislative action on climate change.
Saul Levin, a policy adviser to progressive Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), told an NBC News reporter that he and his colleagues wanted Schumer (D-NY) to reopen negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) — who had withdrawn from a climate deal earlier this month — and “actually pass climate legislation.”
“We’re asking Senator Schumer to negotiate like this is the coldest summer of the rest of our lives (it is),” Levin tweeted during the sit-in.
Manchin, a Democrat who represents the coal-rich state of West Virginia, has repeatedly thwarted efforts to act on climate.
Democrats need all 50 votes in the Senate — including Manchin’s — to pass any kind of climate legislation.
According to reports, some 17 House staffers took part in Monday’s protest.
They were photographed peacefully occupying Schumer’s office with banners and handmade signs that read “Keep Negotiating, Chuck!” and “Our Cities Are Sinking.”
