Democratic Senators Press to Sidestep GOP on Climate Change The Hill, by Walter Alarkon, March 28, 2009 http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dem-senators-want-special-rule-for-climate-change-2009-03-28.html  A group of junior Democratic senators are pressing their more senior colleagues to push through a controversial climate change bill by attaching it to a special budget legislative maneuver. Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have said that the budget reconciliation process should be used to get a climate change bill past a GOP filibuster. Reconciliation bills need only a simple majority to move through the Senate, instead of the 60 votes needed to overcome filibusters.