Federal Funding

Millions of dollars that should have gone toward building safer sidewalks or bike lanes near schools were instead forfeited by state DOTs that couldn't get their acts together.

It's been clear since Donald Trump was elected and Republicans hung on to majorities in Congress that federal transit funding is at risk. But a phone call to your representative could protect transit in the current round of budget negotiations.

The Trump administration's fiscal year 2018 budget, released yesterday, includes severe cuts to federal transit funding. Amid this looming austerity, Trump wants to insert his infrastructure plan, which calls for $800 billion in private financing suited for building toll roads (if they're profitable) but not transit infrastructure. Next stop: Congress, which will consider the president's proposal before it passes a budget over the summer.

A new report from Manhattan Institute senior fellow Aaron Renn argues that the federal government should stop supporting new rail lines in cities across the country.

Yesterday, Congress came out with a funding package that keeps the government operating until the end of September. Officially, it's known as the omnibus appropriations package for fiscal year 2017. Unofficially, it's a Republican Congress ignoring the wishes of President Donald J. Trump, and for transit projects around the country, it's what amounts to good news these days.

Eight years in the making, the project was undone by suburban opposition. Now, transit advocates in Michigan's capital are figuring out what can be done to improve transit while their opponents take a victory lap.

The insistence that transit is a local issue while highways are a national concern is an article of faith at right-wing think tanks. But highways mostly serve the same type of trips that Republicans believe are inappropriate for federal funding.

Waiting for fiscal year 2018 isn't fast enough for the Trump administration to cut transit funding. The White House wants to slash transit expansion and TIGER grants immediately.

Dozens of transit projects across the nation -- as well as walking and biking projects that count on funds from the TIGER program -- are under threat unless Congress scraps the hardline budget outline proposed by the White House. Transportation for America is urging people to contact their representatives and oppose the cuts.