The What:
Project 2025 is Donald Trump and the Republicans’ policy roadmap for our future on a wide array of issues, including public transportation.
The Takeaway
The Center for American Progress summarizes it this way: “Project 2025 calls for the elimination of funding for the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) core formula programs and its discretionary Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program.” Eliminating these funding streams would harm transit authorities’ ability to do regular and essential maintenance to ensure that our transit systems run smoothly and are safe. It impacts transit authorities’ ability to buy new buses and cover other capital needs like making transit more accessible. In addition, it would eliminate our ability to finish long-term projects like the improvements to tunnels that give trains access to NYC.
But urban centers aren’t the only ones impacted. Towns and rural communities have a lot to lose as well. More than half of our transit agencies serve rural communities and small towns. Eliminating funding for these agencies would create barriers to accessing jobs, health care, education, and groceries for people living in these areas.
Transit unions are also raising the alarm about how Project 2025 will impact the transit workforce. We know that low wages and dangerous working conditions impede building the workforce we need for dependable service and expanding service. ATU points out that it will
- Get rid of workers’ unions in the middle of contracts
- Ban all public employee unions
- Allow states to ban labor unions, eliminate overtime protections and choose not to follow the federal minimum wage.
Why You Should Care
- Low-income individuals, many of them people of color, will bear the brunt of fewer affordable public transit it some cases, leaving them with no viable options for going to work, school, see a doctor or get groceries.
- The shift to private-sector funding will lead to more inequities. Wealthier communities may still be able to fund transit options, while lower-income areas will be left with inadequate services.
- The lack of federal investment and focus on local funding sources will also drive inequities in the quality and reliability of service.
- Overall, the federal policy continues to invest in roads, lowering emissions standards and harming the environment.
The Proof:
Actual quotes from Project 2025:
“It is also vital to move away from using the Highway Trust Fund to prop up mass transit… With the federal government facing mounting debt, the best course of action would be to remove federal subsidies for transit spending, allowing states and localities to decide whether mass transit is a good investment for them” (General Welfare, Dept Of Transportation, Page 636)
“Reduce proposed fuel economy levels. The Administration should consider returning to the minimum average fuel economy levels specified by Congress for model year 2020 vehicles: levels aimed at achieving a fleet-wide average of 35 miles per gallon. Consideration should be given to maintaining the standards at those levels for the hearn term” (General Welfare, Dept Of Transportation page 621)
“Ensure that DOT again exercises priority in the setting of fuel economy standards. Any EPA limits on carbon dioxide emissions, even if authorized under the Clean Air Act, must support and work in harmony with DOT standards and must not override theme or usurp DOT’s regulatory role” (General Welfare, Dept Of Transportation, Page 628)
“Section 10(c) of the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 was initially intended to protect bargaining rights for workers in privately owned transit systems that were being absorbed by government-operated agencies. The provision has mutated into a requirement that any transit agency receiving federal funds cannot reduce compensation, an interpretation that far exceeds the original statute. Returning to the original intent would allow transit agencies to adjust fringe benefits without fearing a federal lawsuit.”(General Welfare, Dept Of Transportation, Page 635-636)
Sources:
- https://defeatproject2025.org/policy-explained/department-of-transportation/
- https://www.americanprogress.org/article/project-2025-would-increase-costs-for-commuters-defund-transit-maintenance-and-undermine-economic-growth/
- https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-project-2025-would-increase-costs-for-commuters-defund-transit-maintenance-and-undermine-economic-growth/
- https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_CHAPTER-19.pdf