Republicans voted to slash Biden-era transportation grants. Their constituents aren't happy.
But the money intended for the project in St. George vanished after President Donald Trump signed the GOP's massive tax and spending package last month.
The solidly Republican community isn't alone. Across the country, the new law rescinded more than $2.2 billion in unobligated dollars from a $3.2 billion Biden-era program aimed at helping reconnect disadvantaged neighborhoods divided by roadways, according to records reviewed by POLITICO. Areas hit by the cuts include some represented by GOP lawmakers who voted for the law — in the latest example of Trump's most significant legislative triumph complicating life back home for his allies in Congress.
In Bowling Green, Kentucky, the law canceled 93 percent of an $11 million grant meant to boost pedestrian safety on a roadway. In western Montana, it wiped out money aimed at improving a highway on the Flathead Indian Reservation and better connecting Missoula-area communities. And on Maryland's Eastern Shore, the law ended more than $4 million in funding that would have gone toward addressing similar concerns in two municipalities.
It 'felt like the carpet was pulled out from underneath of us,' said Zack Tyndall, the mayor of Berlin, Maryland. Mayoral elections there are non-partisan. 'We're still trying to figure out how we can move forward.'
In St. George, a short drive from Zion National Park's stunning views and sandstone cliffs, the $87.6 million would have helped address the increasingly busy interstate highway that bifurcates the rapidly growing city. Residents in the area voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2020 and 2024. But now they're feeling the impacts of Republicans' quest to scrub the government of Biden-era programs that conflict with Trump's priorities.
'There's a 2-mile stretch of that highway where you can't get through,' said Jimmie Hughes, a Republican City Council member in St. George. The project 'really was an answer to a lot of congestion. It's a little bit heartbreaking, but we're not giving up.'
Hughes said his city may have been in a 'baby out with the bathwater' situation.
Transportation Department spokesperson Nate Sizemore said in a statement that 'Congress was right to cancel' the grant program, saying it 'prioritized [diversity, equity and inclusion] and Green priorities while ignoring the core infrastructure needs of our country.'
He added that DOT is 'removing Biden-era requirements that tied critical infrastructure funding to woke social justice and climate initiatives that diverted resources from the Department's core mission' — a priority of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
The target of the funding clawback is the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program, one of a series of provisions included in former President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act that seek to use federal dollars to ease long-standing social and economic inequities.
But the grant program also sought to improve walkability and safety in places like St. George.
'This project allows for us to accommodate the increased demands in vehicular traffic to get across I-15,' said Shawn Guzman, director of government affairs for St. George. 'So, we think that this project falls squarely under the goals of Secretary Duffy and this administration's to use funding for needed infrastructure projects.'
The rescinded money was part of a larger highway widening project that the state is spearheading to expand the lanes on I-15.
The state still plans to move forward with the project, but it remains to be seen how much its scope will be scaled back if new funds aren't found, according to Kevin Kitchen, a spokesperson for the Utah Department of Transportation.
"It is too early to determine the details of what that will look like without the $87.6 million,' Kitchen said.
Spokespeople for Utah Republican Sens. John Curtis and Mike Lee didn't respond to a request for comment. Nor did one for GOP Rep. Celeste Maloy, who represents the St. George area and, like the senators, voted for the recent domestic policy law.
Maloy heralded the bill generally when it cleared the House, counting the fact that it 'rescinds wasteful IRA dollars' as among the 'many wins for Utah.'
The GOP legislation required that unobligated dollars awarded through the program be rescinded.
That meant clawing back the vast majority of an $11 million grant meant to revamp a road in Bowling Green that was built in the 1980s, which 'cut through the heart of an economically disadvantaged community,' according to a DOT summary of awards.
Pedestrian safety was the driving factor in applying for the money, said Brent Childers, the city's director of neighborhood and community services. He said the road left people unable to 'walk from one side of the neighborhood to the other.'
The area is represented by House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), who voted in favor of the GOP reconciliation package. His panel played a key role in crafting the sprawling tax cuts and spending measure, though the provision that gutted this grant program originated in the House Transportation Committee.
A spokesperson for Guthrie didn't respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who also voted for the law, saw his western Montana district hit by cuts, too.
A roughly $75 million award for a project pitched by the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes to reconstruct and improve a 2.9-mile stretch of roadway on the Flathead Indian Reservation had 84 percent of its funds rescinded.
'The highway is the primary transportation corridor through the reservation, linking members of the [tribes] and other residents to jobs, schools, medical care, and other essential destinations,' the DOT awards summary says. 'In its current condition, however, the road presents a significant barrier to community connectivity due to longstanding safety issues and a lack of adequate alternate routes.'
The law also gutted all $24 million in federal grant money for a project in Zinke's district aimed at providing safer movement for people and cars from East Missoula to Missoula, including by reconstructing a railroad crossing bridge over a highway. That grant was the lion's share of the project's total cost of $30 million.
Dave Strohmaier, a Democrat who is a Missoula County commissioner, described the move as 'basically a broad-brush keyword search' for programs that included language about issues such as DEI. 'In this particular case, without a doubt, the word 'equity' has a big bull's-eye on it,' he said.
DOT's awards summary described the corridor as an 'outdated rural highway with a history of severe and fatal crashes that lacks safe, comfortable, and convenient multimodal facilities.'
'I would challenge the administration to look at what the actual projects did on the ground,' Strohmaier said. 'This project was all about bricks and mortar. What this project would do is rebuild a railroad crossing, construct sidewalks and build essential infrastructure that sets the stage for economic development.
'This has been identified as a huge safety hazard for literally decades,' he added.
Spokespeople for Montana Republican Sens. Tim Sheehy and Steve Daines, who both voted for the law, didn't answer a request for comment. A spokesperson for Zinke also didn't.
In Easton, Maryland, which is in the district of House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), $3.3 million had been awarded through the Biden-era program to add sidewalks and tackle other issues in a highway corridor. But the new GOP law pulled that funding.
And in the town of Berlin, which is also in Harris' district, the law yanked $950,000 in unobligated dollars from an already-awarded $1.2 million grant. That was for planning to tackle the 'barrier' created by U.S. Route 113, which bisects the municipality just west of Ocean City, Maryland.
Tyndall, the mayor, said the road can be dangerous, citing a spot where a state trooper hit and killed a 16-year-old boy and injured his brother in 2013. The town wants to improve safety there — options include a pedestrian bridge, increased lighting or better crosswalks — and the grant was for thinking up ways to do this. The state, he added, is an 'avid partner' and 'the most willing party' to discuss how to make up the funding shortfall.
When POLITICO first spoke with Tyndall, he said he had contacted Harris' office but didn't get a call back. The mayor said he finally got a response from Harris' district director after POLITICO emailed a spokesperson for comment. Tyndall said the staffer he spoke with didn't seem aware that the rescission was due to the GOP law.
In a statement, a Harris spokesperson said the lawmaker has 'consistently demonstrated his commitment to providing appropriate constituent assistance while upholding fiscal responsibility.'
Republicans aren't the only ones whose districts have been affected.
A major effort in upstate New York to tear down an elevated section of Interstate 81 that runs through Syracuse also suffered a blow due to the law. The measure clawed back around 16 percent of a $180 million award, which was a relatively small piece of the overarching project. The raised portion of the highway, built more than 50 years ago, devastated Syracuse's 15th Ward, which was home to a majority of the city's Black residents.
Joe Driscoll, the city's I-81 project director, said the rescinded money was poised to help revamp and improve infrastructure in a public housing community that the highway splits. Driscoll said he and others are looking for other pots of state or federal money to fill the $29.7 million gap.
Rep. John Mannion (D-N.Y.), who represents the area and voted no on the reconciliation package, said in a statement to POLITICO that slashing the funding 'in the middle of construction to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy is bad policy and a betrayal of Syracuse and our region.'
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