Our conversation about fighting wild animals almost became relevant this morning.

In what sense?

I was out for a morning run in Asheville and I ran almost into a black bear.

Oh my god.

Hello and welcome to the 538 Politics Podcast.

I'm Galen Druke.

Last Thursday, President Biden announced his support for a bipartisan infrastructure plan

proposed by a group of 10 senators, 5 Republicans and 5 Democrats.

It would increase federal spending on roads, public transit, broadband internet, utilities

and more by about $600 billion over 8 years.

The plan excludes many of Democrats' priorities on social services and climate, which they

hope to pass separately through the so-called reconciliation process with only Democratic

voters.

That has caused its own set of tensions surrounding this bipartisan framework, which we'll get

into.

We're also going to talk about what the incentives are for politicians to be bipartisan.

Why are the 10 lawmakers in particular interested in working together?

And how much does the public care?

We're also going to look at whether Republicans approach to climate change is changing.

A New York Times report last week titled a growing number of Republicans are working to

address climate change, detailed some of the efforts that Republican lawmakers are making,

including starting a conservative climate caucus in Congress.

...