There is continuing coverage of US president Joe Biden’s $2tn plan for developing the nation’s infrastructure that he said, according to the Guardian, will allow “transformational progress in our ability to tackle climate change” by supporting clean energy, electric vehicles and homes resilient to climate threats. The package, known as the “American Jobs Plan”, is the “first indication of the scale of spending that will be required to reshape day-to-day life in order to avert disastrous climate change”, the newspaper reports. Announcing the plan with a speech in Pittsburgh that emphasised a focus on creating jobs, Biden said it would be “a once-in-a-generation investment in America unlike anything we’ve seen or done since we built the interstate highway system and the space race decades ago”, Associated Press reports. The infrastructure plan comes shortly after Biden’s $1.9tn coronavirus relief package. Biden hopes to pass it by summer, “which could mean relying solely on the slim Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate”, according to the newswire. It adds that the president’s infrastructure projects would be financed by higher corporate taxes, a move which could “thwart attempts to work with Republican lawmakers”. Reuters notes that Congress is “poised for a long battle” over the plan, as Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he would not support tax increases or deficit spending in the bill.

Guest post from The Guardian