The Biden-Harris administration’s woke agenda just got thrown under the bus.
Trump’s new Transportation team is going back to basics.
And Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy just slammed on the brakes for Biden’s woke transit agenda with one stunning announcement that’s got America’s manufacturers cheering.
Duffy ditches Biden’s radical DEI transit mandates
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a massive $1.5 billion in federal funding Thursday to jumpstart America’s bus manufacturing and get the nation building again. But it’s what he removed from the funding rules that has heads spinning in Washington.
For the first time since President Trump took office, transit grants are being stripped of the climate change rules, environmental justice paperwork, and diversity requirements that bogged down bus builders for years.
"American commuters don’t want to pay for deranged, leftist DEI mandates that don’t improve the efficiency of their daily commutes," Duffy said. "They care about getting home safely and quickly to the families they are working so hard to provide for."
Duffy explained that his department "stripped the unnecessary and wasteful woke requirements our transit manufacturing system was burdened by under the last administration so American manufacturers can focus on building big, beautiful transit systems for American families to reach their destinations safely and efficiently."
The move comes after manufacturers complained for years about having to waste time and money on paperwork that had nothing to do with building better buses.
America First focus replaces radical ideology
The new funding opportunity marks a dramatic shift from the previous administration, which routinely added various requirements to infrastructure grants that critics argued increased costs and extended project timelines nationwide.
Under Pete Buttigieg’s leadership, transportation grants came with additional requirements related to environmental justice and equity considerations that many in the manufacturing sector found burdensome.
The Department of Transportation’s dramatic policy reversal follows President Trump’s campaign promises to eliminate wasteful bureaucracy and get America building again.
Simpler buses mean faster delivery
The $1.5 billion transit package splits into roughly $400 million for the Buses and Bus Facilities Program and $1.1 billion for the Low or No Emission Program. What’s different this time? The focus on getting basic, standardized buses built without all the bells and whistles.
Transit officials want agencies to ditch custom designs that slow down assembly lines and jack up price tags. The funding announcement makes it clear – standard bus models roll off production lines faster and cheaper, putting more American-made buses on the street where they belong.
The funding announcement also includes a new emphasis on improving transportation access for families with young children – focusing on practical concerns like helping parents reach jobs, healthcare, and retail destinations more easily.
Manufacturing boost expected
Industry analysts predict the policy changes could lead to significant improvements in production timelines and cost efficiency for American bus manufacturers. Without the burden of extensive paperwork and compliance with ideological mandates, companies can allocate more resources toward actual manufacturing.
The streamlined requirements are expected to benefit America’s bus manufacturing workforce as companies can focus on their core business of building transit vehicles rather than navigating complex regulatory frameworks unrelated to transportation safety or efficiency.
Applications for the funding must be submitted electronically through GRANTS.GOV by July 14, 2025, and manufacturing industry observers expect fierce competition for the dollars now that the ideological requirements have been removed.
The dramatic policy shift follows a pattern of similar changes across the federal government as Trump administration officials systematically dismantle what they view as wasteful ideological requirements that hampered American infrastructure development during the previous four years.
With the transportation sector now freed from these mandates, industry analysts predict a surge in manufacturing activity and job creation that could help revitalize communities with strong manufacturing bases across the nation’s heartland.