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Healey slams Department of Transportation memo tying funding to birth rates
DOT Secretary Sean Duffy mandated that DOT programs, grants, and policies “give preference to communities” with high marriage and birth rates.
Governor Maura Healey criticized a new memo that indicated the Department of Transportation would be focusing its funding on communities with higher marriage and birth rates than the national average.
In Massachusetts, the birth rate is decreasing, according to state data. The CDC reported that there were 44.7 births per 1,000 women in Massachusetts in 2022, while the national average was 56 births per 1,000 women.
Massachusetts also has one of the nation’s lowest marriage rates, according to the Census Bureau.
In an undated memo, newly appointed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy mandated that DOT programs, grants, and policies “give preference to communities” with high marriage and birth rates. Duffy, a former Fox News host and congressman, is married and has nine children.
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“I got to be honest, I’ve really tried here but I do not see a connection,” Healey said, according to the Boston Herald. “We’re a state that’s very serious about ensuring that our residents and our business have access to the highest quality public transit in the entire country.”
Duffy’s memo said the DOT-supported or DOT-assisted programs, loans, contracts, and grants, including the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grant program, will prioritize goals like “the accessibility of transportation to families with young children.”
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“It’s concerning to governors around the country because people rely on transportation just like they rely on child care and infrastructure,” Healey told the Herald. “I’m focused on fixing roads and bridges and building out the kind of transit system that we need, and we need a federal partner who’s rowing in that direction.”
Massachusetts has received multiple large grants funding large transportation projects from the DOT in the last year, including $1 billion to replace the Cape Cod bridges and half a billion to replace the MBTA’s North Station Draw One Bridge. Healey’s administration also announced $102 million from federal grants in January for infrastructure projects in 10 municipalities.
The birth rate across the country has been declining, decreasing 2 percent annually from 2014 through 2020 and 3 percent from 2022, according to the CDC. South Dakota, Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Texas boast some of the highest fertility rates in the country.
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