Skip to main content

USDoT goes 'back to basics' by rescinding Biden-era memos

Transport funding memos were part of 'radical social and environmental agenda'
By Adam Hill March 11, 2025 Read time: 1 min
USDoT is 'building critical infrastructure projects that move people and move commerce safely' © Brett Critchley | Dreamstime.com)

The US Department of Transportation has further signalled the Trump administration's desire to break with the past by rescinding transport funding memos issued during President Joe Biden's time in the White House.

USDoT now says that the two separate memorandums, both called 'Policy on Using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Resources to Build a Better America', "injected a social justice and environmental agenda into decisions for critical infrastructure projects" and were "in conflict with Congressional intent and the Administrative Procedure Act".

"These Biden-era memos displaced the long-standing authorities granted to states by law, added meritless and costly burdens related to greenhouse gas emissions and equity initiatives," USDoT's statement continues.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Transportation is getting back to basics — building critical infrastructure projects that move people and move commerce safely," says transportation secretary Sean P. Duffy. "The previous administration flouted Congress in an attempt to push a radical social and environmental agenda on the American people. This was an act of federal overreach. It stops now.”

The decision "affirms that these Biden-era policies have no basis in statute and have no role in DoT programmes going forward".  

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • LaHood named co-chairman of Building America’s Future
    January 9, 2014
    Former US Secretary of Transportation is to join Building America’s Future (BAF) as a new co-chair. Serving alongside fellow co-chairs former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell the LaHood will help lead BAF’s bipartisan coalition of current and former elected officials who are committed to raising awareness about the need to invest in our nation’s roads, bridges, airports, rails and ports. Together, the BAF co-chairs called on Washington to support critica
  • US DOT releases new automated driving systems guidance
    September 14, 2017
    The US Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have released new federal guidance for Automated Driving Systems (ADS): A Vision for Safety 2.0. The new Voluntary Guidance focuses on levels 3, 4 and 5 automated driving systems (ADS).
  • How does transit prepare for the next pandemic?
    November 30, 2020
    Covid-19 has taught us that once-in-a-generation events do actually happen sometimes. But Ronald E. Boénau suggests that transport agencies can prepare for the next pandemic - without exactly preparing for it at all…
  • Foxx: US needs to invest more in infrastructure
    July 18, 2014
    US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx predicted there would be a repeat of this summer’s infrastructure funding debate in Congress next year despite the likelihood of US$10.9 billion bill, passed by the House, becoming law before the end of this month. Foxx said during an interview with MSNBC’s Ed Schultz on Tuesday evening that the House-passed legislation failed to address the long-term issues that have been plaguing federal transportation funding for years. “What’s going on in Capitol Hill right