Communities across the country hope to tap into funds from Democrats’ new climate law to restore coastal habitats, part of a program that emphasizes nature-based solutions.
Progressives who had threatened to sink the measure agreed to support it after extracting a promise from moderates that they would ultimately back the social safety net and climate bill.
The measure includes $47 billion to help communities prepare for the new age of extreme fires, floods, storms and droughts that scientists say are worsened by human-caused climate change.
Negotiators were closing in on a deal that could spend around $1.75 trillion, but lawmakers were still haggling over critical disagreements on the sprawling social policy bill.
The new strategy could deeply cut greenhouse gases that are heating the planet but it will still face considerable political, logistical and legal hurdles.
