USDOT’s ‘Woke’ Rescission Memo Could Take Away Billions From Massachusetts Infrastructure Projects

New U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to lobby Congress to rescind many of the infrastructure grants and transportation spending programs that had been approved under the Biden administration, putting at risk billions in federal funding for transportation projects like the Sagamore Bridge replacement, McGrath Boulevard reconstruction, and east-west rail.

In his so-called “woke rescission” memo, issued on Jan. 29, Duffy called on his staff to “identify and eliminate” any Biden-era programs or funding agreements that “reference or relate in any way to climate change, ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions, racial equity, gender identity, ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ goals, environmental justice, or the Justice40 initiative.”

Many of those same policy initiatives were referenced specifically as grant award criteria for the Biden administration’s discretionary grant programs, like the Reconnecting Communities program, which had previously promised $335 million to the Allston I-90 project and $43 million to remove the obsolete McGrath Highway in Somerville.

The Commonwealth’s $1.4 billion in federal grants for its planned Sagamore Bridge replacement could also be at risk. Even though it’s a highway widening project, the state’s grant application included detailed references to “environmental justice,” rising sea levels along the Cape Cod Canal, and other consequences of climate change.

Courts can’t build bridges

There are already two federal court orders that call on the Trump administration to honor its contracts and disburse the funding that the previous administration had promised.

But President Trump has been ignoring those court orders, undermining the government’s vaunted system of checks and balances and setting up the nation for a potential constitutional crisis.

Setting aside those problems, Congress could still cancel spending through a unambiguously legal path called “rescission.”

Under that strategy, Sec. Duffy could lobby the current Republican Congress to cancel spending programs that Democrats approved four years ago in the “bipartisan” infrastructure law.

“If we don’t speak up for these sources of funding now, they could disappear entirely,” Ben Crowther of America Walks told StreetsblogUSA last week. “Right now, Congress is getting tons of messages about all sorts of programs that are threatened at the federal level. When time comes for them to negotiate, if no one is speaking up for [sustainable transportation], these will programs will be the first to be cut.” 

Transportation for America has set up an interactive map that estimates how much funding could be at risk in each congressional district.

Memo sets Feb. 18 deadline

We should have a clearer idea of the scope of how much federal funding could be rescinded later this week.

Sec. Duffy’s Jan. 29 memo set a 20-day deadline for his staff to identify funding policies and spending programs to eliminate.

By Feb. 18th, the memo says, the U.S. Department of Transportation will “initiate all lawful actions necessary to rescind, cancel, revoke, and terminate” those programs.

Transportation for America policy manager Corrigan Salerno told StreetsblogUSA that they’re rallying advocates to reach out to both their congressional delegation and their local officials to try and learn more about specific programs and grants that might be at risk.

“Your local elected officials should be amplifying your requests for clarity to Congress, and asking questions about specific local projects,” Salerno told StreetsblogUSA.

Read more about rescission – and how transportation advocates are responding – from Kea Wilson at StreetsblogUSA.