A memo obtained by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein made the rounds on social media Thursday after it instructed staff to prioritize funding for areas with higher marriage and birth rates.
The memo appears to be from President Donald Trump's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and came with the subject line: "Ensuring reliance upon sound economic analysis in Department of Transportation policies, programs and activities."
The order "updates and resets" the principles and standards underpinning the agency to "mandate reliance on rigorous economic analysis and positive cost-benefit calculations" and ensure that all agency grants, loans contracts and other contracts "bolster the American economy and benefit the American people."
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But one section of the memo gained particular attention on social media. That section told staff that to a practical, relevant appropriate and legal extent, staffers were told to "give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average."
Additionally, recipients of Transportation Department support are banned from imposing vaccine or mask mandates.
Falling birth rates have become a rallying cry on the right, with tech billionaire Elon Musk, Vice President J.D. Vance and other MAGA allies turning the topic into a political football.
The memo drew swift mockery on social media.
"In a totally normal and not-alarming memo, Trump’s new transportation secretary directs staff to give preferential funding to 'communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average,'" quipped activist and author Jessica Valenti on X.
"So is this how Texas finally gets High Speed Rail?" joked Aaron Astor, historian and professor at Maryville College, on X.
"So this is actually DEI," jabbed The anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, turning GOP attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion back on the party.
"USDOT wants to prioritize grants, including CIG, for areas with high marriage and birth rates. Um, wut?" wrote Kevin DeGood, senior director of Infrastructure and Housing Policy at the Center for American Progress.