Trump administration unveils plan to tie high birth and marriage rates to public transit funding

Communities with high birth and marriage rates could soon get an edge in getting federal money for public transit — a long-sought government goal. Asset but an administration that a senior Democratic official calls “bizarre and dystopian.”

The Federal Transit Administration wants to revamp a multibillion-dollar program that helps state and local governments fund infrastructure projects such as rail improvements and new bus lanes. Public comments on the administration’s plan, which was rolled out Oct. 1, will be accepted until mid-November.

The idea would meet a priority of the Secretary of Transport Sean Duffy to direct subsidies to regions of the country where birth and marriage rates are higher than the national average, a policy initiative he unveiled shortly after his inauguration at the beginning of last year.

Below the transit proposalThe FTA would cover up to 10 percentage points more of a project’s costs if a region’s average birth and marriage rates meet, exceed, or are just below national thresholds.