USDOT Rolls Back Biden-Era “Social Justice and Environmental Agenda” Memos
The agency says the memos, intended to guide spending of the 2021 infrastructure law, usurped state authority.
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U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy has rolled back two Biden-era Federal Highway Administration memorandums that he says pushed a “social justice and environmental agenda into decision for critical infrastructure projects.”
The “Policy on Using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Resources to Build a Better America” memos were issued in December 2021 and in February 2023. The USDOT says the two memos, which were intended to guide state spending of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding, displaced state authority and conflicted with congressional intent and the Administrative Procedure Act.
A memo from USDOT’s Acting General Counsel Gregory Cote requesting the two Biden-era memos be rescinded stated, “The intent of the memorandum was to ensure that the funding and eligibilities provided by IIJA were interpreted and implemented to encourage states and other funding recipients to prioritize investing in projects that advanced policies of the prior administration, such as equity and responding to climate change.
“This memorandum elicited significant confusion within the transportation community because it was issued without notice and comment, and it intended to serve as an overarching policy framework that prioritized IIJA resources toward certain projects inconsistent with the underlying statute.”
The U.S. Government Accountability Office determined in December 2022 that the original memorandum should have followed certain congressional review procedures.
The GAO stated in its final decision that the rescinded memos were issued to encourage states to “invest in projects that upgrade the condition of streets, highways and bridges and make them safe for all users, while at the same time modernizing them so that the transportation network is accessible for all users, provides people with better choices across all modes, accommodates new and emerging technologies, is more sustainable and resilient to a changing climate, and is more equitable.”
The original FHWA memo did acknowledge that states had the final decision in which projects are funded.
The USDOT webpage that originally hosted the policy has been removed.
Duffy’s action was praised by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, the American Highway Users Alliance and Associated General Contractors.
Duffy’s first action as the head of USDOT was a memorandum directing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to review Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which govern the average fuel efficiency car manufacturers must achieve across their entire sold fleet in the U.S. In the memo, Duffy alleged the Biden administration had used CAFE standards to force rapid electrification of U.S. vehicles.
