U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, a Maryland Democrat, said he feared Duffy’s directives would harm some grants already announced — including $85 million awarded to Baltimore in the final weeks of the Biden administration to transform a blighted stretch of U.S. 40 known as the “highway to nowhere.”

DOT Secretary Sean Duffy mandated that DOT programs, grants, and policies “give preference to communities” with high marriage and birth rates.

Some policy experts said they were not sure how the move was connected to the president’s overall transportation goals.

San Francisco wants wealthy donors to help tackle drug overdoses, and Trump’s freeze on climate money sows fear and confusion.

Conservatives like Elon Musk and JD Vance have fixated on America’s declining birthrate, but it's unclear how directing more transportation funding to areas with higher birth and marriage rates would reverse the trend.