Dive Brief:
- The Republican party platform says transit funding should be a "local affair" and advises the federal government to phase out federal funding for those projects, Engineering News-Record reported.
- The platform, which is not binding and only a statement of party principles, also recommends keeping the federal gasoline tax at its current 1993 level, which is 18.4 cents.
- Other policy suggestions include repealing Davis-Bacon prevailing wage laws; getting rid of Amtrak and replacing it with private rail companies; phasing out funding for recreational trails, sidewalks and historic preservation and eliminating funding for "boondoggles" like the California high speed bullet train.
Dive Insight:
It's no surprise that transportation-related trade organizations are delivering some serious pushback to the idea of reduced federal funding for transit and other non-highway projects. David Bauer, American Road and Transportation Builders Association senior vice president for government relations, told ENR that this latest platform revision is a "distinct departure from what they have done in the past four Republican platforms."
Richard A. White, CEO and acting president of the the American Public Transportation Association said in a statement that such a reduction in transit funding would be "devastating" to everyone that relies on it. He added that the current 40% level of federal funding isn't enough compared to what is needed to do the necessary infrastructure work.
In fact, in a May report, the American Society of Civil Engineers said that the U.S. will sacrifice as many as 2.5 million jobs and $4 trillion in gross domestic product over the next decade if it can't come up with a $1.44 trillion infrastructure funding shortfall. Without full funding, the ASCE projected that the infrastructure shortfall could increase to $5.18 trillion by 2040.
According to ENR, transit measures have broad-based, bipartisan support in Congress and that even if Donald Trump were to become president, he would have difficulty getting traction on these issues.