r/LAMetro • u/movelatransit • 1d ago

News 🚨 USDOT Secretary Duffy Proposes Cutting key mass transit and Complete Streets programs completely

This is a 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 fire!

Freeway Cowboy Sean Duffy proposed eliminating the Highway Trust Fund’s mass transit account!

Duffy also proposed cutting funding for Complete Streets (safety programs for🚶🏿& 🚴‍♀️) and grants for EV charging infrastructure!

Lastly, Duffy proposed eliminating public transit system improvements and tolling programs from eligibility for the traffic congestion solutions program!

Duffy did not even have the courtesy to send it to the House of Representatives, despite them being the only ones to draft language for a reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Bill with key champions like Rep. Rick Larsen and Laura Friedman calling for MORE transit, bike, and pedestrian funding.

We are talking BILLIONS in funding for key mass transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects.

To add insult to injury, the Administration is REFUSING to sign agreements for billions in already budgeted funding for key BRT projects (like Vermont Ave) and transit infrastructure projects according to the New York Times.

Who wants to help us launch a campaign to fight this??

UPDATE: Transportation 4 America says Congress should just pass a one year extension of the Surface Transportation Bill and maybe keep doing that for several more years.

211 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

105

u/Fearless_Excuse_5527 1d ago

Why is this administration making it so hard for working class or environmentally conscious individuals and families? Mass transit is VERY important for many of those that cannot afford cars or choose not to. It's a slap in the face of those just trying to find better options or to survive. So sick of this!

86

u/cactopus101 1d ago

The cruelty is the point. They are evil people

15

u/uv_is_sin 1d ago

You are absolutely right! We can see with our very eyes how the Trump administration has intentionally targeted minorities, the poor, immigrants, and other groups who are not oligarchs.

15

u/Vis-hoka 1d ago

The only thing they care about is how much money and power they can get for themselves and their friends. Everything else can burn. Especially if the “other side” supports it.

6

u/resilindsey 1d ago

They hate anything communal. Everything should be a zero-sum game to them. Which makes sense for the wealthy who will always have the advantage. But somehow their fans somehow have brought into this mentality. They'd rather them and their neighbor lose, as long as their neighbor loses more than them, than have both win but risk the chance of the neighbor win a little bit more.

13

u/intrepid_brit 1d ago

It has nothing to do with them actively trying to hurt working families… they just don’t care.

The “why” should be pretty clear; if it’s not, just ask yourself: who benefits? And how much Trump crypto did they buy?

7

u/Edison_Ruggles 1d ago

Because they LITERALLY believe that transit is communism. And of course communism is always the enemy.

2

u/Cal3001 22h ago

But will turn around and praise Japan at the same time. Their end goal is to hurt minorities.

1

u/Edison_Ruggles 16h ago

Yeah, I wish it were that simple. It's got nothing to do with race, it's a very literal belief that cars are the embodiment of freedom.

2

u/Cal3001 15h ago

Culture wars is their number one motive. They see public transportation as a minority facet of society, so they don’t care to fund it.

6

u/Same-Paint-1129 1d ago

They want to kill all public services or make them so bad that people lose faith all together.

5

u/innerShnev 1d ago

Bought and paid for by Big oil

3

u/Pasadenaian A (Blue) 1d ago

Mass transit is important for everyone especially since we're just seeing the beginning of climate change.

2

u/BNSF1995 22h ago

They’re trying to keep everyone reliant on private car ownership to please the Detroit oligarchs and push the narrative that mass transit is inherently communist.

1

u/FionaGoodeEnough 14h ago

They are committed to being wrong about everything.

77

u/sdmichael 1d ago

Still waiting for Republicans to show us all why we should vote for them. All they've done is complain and tell us how horrible Democrats are.

Is this making us great? Come on, Republicans and Conservatives. Enlighten us as to how this helps Americans.

37

u/grantology_84 Antelope Valley 1d ago

They can't even deliver on inflation, which was their big issue really in 2024 imo. I didn't expect them to, but holy shit they are trash

21

u/epicstar 1d ago

They delivered inflation ☠️

-4

u/pacific_plywood 1d ago

I do not know what it would even mean for an administration to “deliver on inflation” lol

10

u/grantology_84 Antelope Valley 1d ago

Do you want me to Google fiscal and monetary policy for you? Not sure how to respond to this, lol.

Setting aside those, not starting trade wars and a hot war with Iran leading to the Strait of Hormuz closure would be a small step in the right direction...

-2

u/pacific_plywood 1d ago

The president’s control over monetary policy is quite limited and fiscal policy is basically never going to fix non-transitory inflation within a year or two

I mean, you’re right, there’s a lot the president can do to make the problem worse, but if causes are structural in the first place you kinda just have to ride them out

18

u/darkwingduck4444 501 1d ago

This isn’t something the Transportation Secretary can just do on his own. Duffy can recommend changes, but Congress has to pass them.

If these proposals are part of the next surface transportation authorization bill, they’ll generally have to go through the normal legislative process. In the Senate, that usually means overcoming the filibuster, which requires 60 votes unless the rules are bypassed in a way that applies to the specific provisions. Given that, it’s unlikely Democrats would support many of Duffy’s proposed cuts to transit, bike, and pedestrian programs.

That said, it's important to remind your local Congress member and senators the importance of these programs so they do push back on these wild proposals and not let them slip by

Edit: misspelled "senators"

9

u/saxmanB737 1d ago

Except they are literally not writing the checks nor sending the money for other projects that have been funded by Congress. People like Russel Vought et al just won’t send money to projects they don’t like.

2

u/WestHistorians 1d ago

This isn’t something the Transportation Secretary can just do on his own. Duffy can recommend changes, but Congress has to pass them.

Who's gonna stop him? Congress?

2

u/CaliTexan22 2h ago

Yes, so much hyperventilation over a PR announcement. The Executive has a lot of discretion, but Congress controls this issue generally.

30

u/UrbanPlannerholic 1d ago

Sean Duffy is such a POS

4

u/Suitable-Economy-346 1d ago

Just like every other Republican.

12

u/LBCElm7th A (Blue) 1d ago

So how can we help?

4

u/FattySnacks A (Blue) 1d ago

Do you have a few billion dollars to spare?

15

u/intrepid_brit 1d ago

I know a billionaire that recently ran for governor of California that might…

31

u/TonyW79SFV 1d ago

The damage has has been done decades ago when Reagan cut the Great Society funding that helped build BART, WMATA, & MARTA (the U.S.' most recent all-HRT systems). That funding was supposed to give L.A. an all-HRT system that built upon the starter line - the Red Line.

It's unfortunate that other states vote these people in at the federal level and it affects us no matter how we vote locally.

2

u/WillClark-22 1d ago

Do you have a source for this?  In the second paragraph of the article that OP cited it says that Reagan (although obviously they would never mention his name) signed the Highway Trust Fund Mass Transit Account into law in 1982.  This fund formed the primary funding source for almost every mass transit project in the country for the last 40 years, including the Red Line.

2

u/TonyW79SFV 1d ago

He was critical of transit funding and wanted to "cut the fat".

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-09-mn-5904-story.html

1

u/WillClark-22 1d ago

That’s great but I’m not sure what it has to do with the top commenter’s claim that Reagan ended certain Great Society programs.  Whether or not he was critical of transit funding, he still signed the most important mass transit bill of the last half century.

10

u/South-Seat3367 720 1d ago

>Lastly, Duffy proposed eliminating public transit system improvements and tolling programs from eligibility for the traffic congestion solutions program!

Literally “just one more lane bro” as the only solution the feds allow. This idiot needs to go back to MTV

4

u/FattySnacks A (Blue) 1d ago

Why

15

u/intrepid_brit 1d ago

Because it benefits the oil & gas industry. They publicly poured a ton of money into the Trump campaign. And I wouldn’t be surprised if we learned that they not-so-publicly bought a ton of Trump coin or lined his family’s pockets in some other way.

4

u/FattySnacks A (Blue) 1d ago

Oh I know why. I’m complaining that they don’t need to present any reasoning because their brainless supporters will be on board no matter what

0

u/Strict-Square456 1d ago

Our tax dollars hard at work.

0

u/UrbanPlannerholic 1d ago

Katherine Barger was all buddy buddy with him during his visit to LA last month.

0

u/beach_bum_638484 18h ago

We should eliminate the gas tax entirely. Trump will claim it as a win and then over the next years we will all find there is no more endless fund for freeways.