Trump administration prioritizes high-birthrate areas for transportation funds which means more federal funding to red states: South Dakota, Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota & Texas [See body text] (archive.ph)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by InevitableSwing@hexbear.net to c/urbanism@hexbear.net

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The NYT pretends the move is "puzzling" and puts a reason in the second half of the article.

Prioritizing areas with higher birthrates would, however, send more federal funding to Republican states. South Dakota, Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and Texas are among the states with the highest fertility rates, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. States that have the lowest fertility rates include Vermont, Oregon, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, none of which voted for Mr. Trump in the 2024 election.

“Clearly this is helping red states,” said Phillip Levine, an economics professor at Wellesley College who has studied the topic of falling U.S. birthrates.

The other reason is this is Trump making the fascists and fundies happy by mentioning birthrates in red states. I'm actually surprised Trump didn't have his transportation secretary stooge simply say "The more you vote for Trump - the more we help you."

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[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

To be fair, not that I should, this is basically the way federal tax money already flows and should flow. States with low birth rates also tend to be states with higher income, and therefore higher tax revenue. States with high birth rates are mostly poorer and receive more federal funding.

Also as regul said, you probably don’t want those funds, they’ll almost exclusively be for things that will make your cities worse.