Sean Duffy's memo, instructing the Department of Transportation to prioritize communities with higher birth and marriage rates for grant funding, has ignited controversy and accusations of social engineering. Critics argue the policy unfairly disadvantages blue states and raises concerns about government overreach.
Transportation Secretary nominee Sean Duffy 's memo outlining grant priorities sparked controversy. The memo instructs the Department of Transportation to prioritize communities with marriage and birth rate s higher than the national average when awarding grants. Critics, including Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Patty Murray, condemned the directive as 'deeply frightening' and 'disturbingly dystopian.
' The memo also calls for prohibiting governments receiving DOT funds from imposing vaccine and mask mandates and requiring their cooperation with immigration enforcement. \With billions in unspent infrastructure funds, these changes could benefit Republican-leaning states with higher fertility rates. Democrats, who generally supported pandemic mitigation measures and resisted Trump-era immigration raids, expressed concern. Kevin DeGood, senior director of infrastructure policy at the Center for American Progress, called the birth rate criterion 'bizarre and a little creepy,' questioning the fairness of excluding aging populations. \While birth rates were not typically used for funding prioritization, some Republicans, like Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, have advocated for directing federal highway dollars to areas with population growth. Sociology professor Sarah Hayford from Ohio State University expressed surprise at the approach, noting that policies around birth rates usually aim to address challenges to having children, not reward them. She attributed the declining U.S. birth rate since 2007 partly to economic uncertainty during the Great Recession, and research has linked higher birth rates to lower education levels. Existing transportation policy already considers where children live, said Beth Jarosz of the Population Reference Bureau, suggesting that birth rates may not be the most effective measure for supporting families. She highlighted that families often relocate when their homes become too small
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Department Of Transportation Grant Funding Birth Rate Marriage Rate Social Engineering Blue States Republican Party Democratic Party Infrastructure Law
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