Evergreen Reporter

The Trump administration has announced a new approach to distributing transportation projects, placing an emphasis on birth rates. This decision marks a shift towards conservative political philosophies and could potentially disadvantage urban areas with lower fertility rates.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has nine children, issued a memo indicating that the department will focus on "sound economic principles" while aiming to maximize benefits for families. This represents a significant change in how federal projects are considered and prioritized.

Oren Cass, a notable political adviser endorsed by Vance, acknowledges that promoting pro-family policies can be challenging but believes it is an important initiative. Cass argues that these policies should be given as much attention as economic growth strategies.

"At first, the family-policy mindset will seem almost nonsensical," he wrote in 2020. "Which infrastructure investments boost fertility the most, which education policies boost marriage rates? What kind of questions are those, how would we answer them, and what could we possibly do with the information?"

Cass further stated: "Yet our confusion should be what strikes us as strange. In what sort of society would we ask those questions about economic growth and design policy accordingly, while ignoring them with respect to the family?"