Chicago (AP) – Shortly after he was confirmed by President Donald Trump as the transport secretary, he was confirmed. Sean Duffy A memo in which his department was instructed to prioritize families, among other things, by preferring municipalities with a higher marriage and birth rates that were higher than the national average when awarding grants.
The Democratic Senator of Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, described the guideline last week as “deeply scary” and the democratic senator of Washington, Patty Murray, “worryingly dystopian”.
The memo also calls for the ban on governments that the Ministry of Transportation of Vaccinations and Mask Mandates require and their cooperation with the efforts to enforce immigration by the administration.
With hundreds of billions of dollars of transport money that are not yet issued according to the cross -party infrastructure law 2021, such changes could be a blessing for projects in the republicans states, which have higher fertility rates on average than those who are democratic.
The states controlled by Democrats were generally more receptive to mask and vaccine rules to combat the Covid 19 pandemic, and were more resistant to Trump’s immigration attacks.
More births for more streets?
All administrations set their own rules for the selection of which transport projects for priorities are carried out. However, some of Duffy’s instructions were received as extremely unusual.
“The basis of the transport financing base and the birth rates is bizarre and a bit creepy,” said Kevin Degood, Senior Director of Infrastructure and Housing Policy in the left -wing American progress. “Having lower birth rates … are you somehow not earning the transport investment?”
According to the most recent figures for the controls for the control and prevention of diseases in 2022, the 14 states supported Trump in November with the highest fertility rates in November, while the lower 11 plus the District of Columbia supported the democrat Harris. The marriage rates tend to branch higher for red states, but with a lower lead.
Vice President JD Vance has long Expressions are concerned about Detail of birth rates, quote National economic needs and the inherent value of children.
The Republican Senator of Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn, has increased the idea of binding the means of transport to population growth during the hearing of Duffy’s confirmation hearing.
“People leave some of these blue states and come to places like Tennessee,” she said. “And that means that we have to check where these federal motorway dollars are output, and in areas with growing needs and not in areas that lose the population.”
Sarah Hayford, sociology professor and director of the Institute for Population Research at Ohio State University, said she had never heard of the birth rates to determine financing priorities.
“I was a little surprised,” she said. “Often politics tries to manage challenges or obstacles for people who have no children in terms of birth rates. This seems to concentrate more on rewarding people for children.”
The US birth rate has decreased since 2007, which is partly due to Hayford to economic uncertainty during the great recession. She said research tied higher birth rates to areas with lower education.
The long -standing transport policy has already taken into account where children live, said Beth Jarosz, senior program director of the Nonpartisan reference office and non -profit population.
“If you try to support families, birth rates are not necessarily the best way to do this,” she said, pointing out that many growing families move to novel communities when they find that their houses are too petite.
The Ministry of Transport did not answer questions about the memo.
So far, the legislators and supporters of the birth and the marriage rates are not aware of themselves, which are associated with grants without transport.
Blue states push back
Blumenthal said that the focus of the transport secretary on the birth and the marriage rates reminds of what they could see in the People’s Republic of China. “
“At first glance it is social engineering. But it is clear and undeniable, it is a dagger aimed at blue states, ”he said. “It is obviously discriminatory when you look at the numbers. These criteria should punish blue states and force the states to change their lawful policy in relation to tolls, vaccines and immigration. “
The US MP Kwesi Mfume, a Democrat in Maryland, said “Autobahn into nowhere.”
“If it is an effort to reward red states, he should just keep going and say that,” said Mfume. “Otherwise there will be many challenges of states and representative organizations across the country that have no choice but to defend themselves, and this struggle becomes legal.”
However, Jarosz said that the political intentions of politics were unclear and states that communities such as San Diego and Sacramento in California are above the national average in relation to the birth rates, while certain rural areas are below.
Is that legal at all?
Right -wing experts say it is too early to know whether something in Duffy’s memo could be put down by the dishes.
Although it is challenging to take a legal argument for financing equality on the basis of political affiliation, the federal law protects against discrimination against things such as breed, sex and disabilities.
Joel Roberson, who takes over in the cases of transport and infrastructure in Washington, DC, the law firm Holland & Knight, said that the administrations are the widespread authority to determine their own criteria for the awarding of money. However, the municipalities denied the financing could submit a lawsuit in which it was argued that they issue an illegal “different effects”.
Roberson said whether Trump could redirect the transport grants granted as part of bids, that it largely depends on the status of the project and whether the congress has already acquired the financing.
The state transport officers have expressed trust that the novel guidelines have no effect on the federal funds to determine their own transport priorities and build roads. But many other grants are granted at the discretion of power administration.
The status of some already approved discretion grants, such as. 5.7 billion US dollars project Add four novel L stations in South Side Chicago.
Blumenthal, a former Attorney General and the Bundestwältsanwalter, said Duffy’s Edict had created “uncertainty and confusion” and pointed out that it does not have legal weight such as laws and regulations. He predicted that the courts would ultimately reject politics.
“Everyone can write a memo,” said Blumenthal.
