The House of Representatives passed a $1.2 infrastructure bill with $550 billion in new spending on Friday, and President Biden is expected to sign the Senate-approved legislation shortly. The bill includes few measures to cut the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change, but includes substantial funding for adapting and building resilience to its impacts. The legislation includes $15 billion for flood control, mitigation and assistance and $100 million to help Indigenous communities relocate as their homes are inundated by sea-level rise. It also includes $65 billion for grid upgrades, $39 billion for public transit, $5 billion for EV chargers, and $2.5 billion for electric school busses — as well as $110 billion for roads, bridges, and other projects, and $18 billion in loan guarantees for for a methane gas export terminal in Alaska, as well as $4.7 billion to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells which spew heat-trapping methane into the atmosphere.
The House did not pass the $1.75 Build Back Better Act, which includes more climate and social spending measures, but Democratic Senators were touting the House passage in Glasgow on Saturday as evidence that progress on that legislation would come soon. (AP, Grist, New York Times $, Wall Street Journal $, Black Wall Street Times, Politico, NPR, Bloomberg $; Senators in Glasgow: Gizmodo)