Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Monday scrapped a Biden administration document that encouraged states to use money handed out by the 2021 infrastructure law for Biden administration priorities such as climate change resiliency and electric vehicles, and to generally look to fix existing infrastructure before creating new projects.
“The previous administration flouted Congress in an attempt to push a radical social and environmental agenda on the American people,” Duffy said. “This was an act of federal overreach. It stops now.”
Technically, Duffy’s action rescinded two memos. The first memo, sent in December 2021, set off a firestorm of criticism, especially from GOP lawmakers, that the agency had overstepped its authority in asking states to spend money in ways that Congress had not directed in the law. The agency insisted at the time that the guidance was voluntary.
Language that incensed Republicans in the first memo said states should use the federal money to fix and repair existing infrastructure before undertaking new projects, such as highways.
