This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Democrats will only support an infrastructure deal with Donald Trump if it includes measures to combat climate change, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has warned.

In an op-ed in the Washington Post and a letter to Trump, the New York Democrat said that his party “will have an extraordinary opportunity to force action on climate change” after taking control of the House of Representatives in the recent midterm elections.

Infrastructure has been viewed as one area – perhaps the only area – where Trump and Democrats could strike a deal to advance significant legislation. Trump is mounting another push for a $1bn package to upgrade roads, bridges and railways across the country.

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However, Trump has repeatedly and controversially expressed skepticism about climate change, including calling it a hoax.

Schumer said that for Democrats to get behind an infrastructure package, it must include money and policy changes to promote renewable energy, and harden US infrastructure against damage from climate change.

“For too long, Congress has failed to act in a meaningful way to combat the threat posed by climate change,” he wrote in the op-ed. “Powerful special interests have a stranglehold on many of my Republican colleagues; some GOP legislators even refuse to acknowledge that climate change is happening.”

Trump’s administration last month issued a report warning of dire consequences from climate change, but the White House sought to bury the assessment and Trump said he does not accept its conclusions. “I don’t believe it,” he said.

His administration is easing carbon emissions standards for new coal-fired power plants.

Schumer, in his letter to Trump, said an infrastructure package should include tax incentives for production of clean electricity, energy-efficient homes and office buildings, and electric vehicles.

He also proposed federal spending on transportation, water, waste and sewer systems that will be more resistant to damage from the stronger storms fueled by a warming world. And he said a package should fund energy-efficient upgrades to public buildings, and restrict methane emissions from power plants.

Schumer cited the wildfires that have ravaged California and damaging hurricanes this season as evidence that climate change is an “existential threat”.

“Climate change is real, caused by humans, and its impacts are already being felt in communities across the country,” he said.

If it does not include at least some of the climate proposals, the minority leader said Trump’s infrastructure bill “should not count on Democratic support in the Senate”.