The head of a group that represents state DOTs is pressing the Trump administration to immediately reimburse states for funding that’s been doled out through grants and formulas — including the electric vehicle formula program the administration has targeted for elimination, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.
In a March 4 letter to DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, Garrett Eucalitto, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ president and the commissioner for Connecticut’s DOT, said his group believes “all federal dollars committed to state DOTs through all formula programs and executed grants represent legally binding obligations.” Eucalitto asked that reimbursement requests “be paid immediately” in order to “avoid unexpected cash flow challenges for state DOTs.”
One of President Donald Trump’s early actions was to issue an executive order that appeared to freeze spending from the 2021 infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act that doesn’t comport with the administration’s priorities. Formula funding for hard infrastructure appears to have been exempted, but it’s still not clear exactly what programs have had reimbursements for obligations frozen and which have not.
He also asked DOT to restore the flow of money to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, called NEVI, which DOT has suspended, saying that some states have already made awards and signed contracts under that program.
