January 22, 2025
By Lane Kimble
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Billions of dollars in money committed for infrastructure projects is flowing again after a brief but nerve-racking pause this week.
One of President Donald Trump’s many executive orders signed Tuesday–his first full day back in office–ordered the federal government to stop spending money that supports electric vehicle charging stations.
However, the order inadvertently stopped all payments to the massive Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, too, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
Politico also reported on the delay and confusion that followed.
In a note to members late Wednesday, ARTBA said it was immediately in contact with the Trump administration and Capitol Hill and BIL payments to states resumed shortly thereafter.
Thursday, the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a special memoclarifying the executive order’s intent, which was to specifically block only investments toward EVs and the Green New Deal.
However, ARTBA also reports the U.S. DOT will pause awarding any new infrastructure grants without a signed agreement already in place. This is common under an administration change, ARTBA said.
President Biden signed the $1 trillion BIL into law in November 2021. It’s led to more than $1.5 billion in discretionary grants for Wisconsin alone, including money to replace the aging Blatnik Bridge in Superior.
However, the BIL also committed billions to projects that prioritize clean energy and EVs, which the Trump administration has pledged to target.
Despite the confusion over the executive order, legal experts like the University of Michigan’s Nicholas Bagley say the action is likely not a major problem for transportation projects in general.
“These executive orders, as a general matter, they come out with some really aggressive rhetoric, and then back it up with fairly milquetoast instructions to agencies,” Bagley told Politico.
The president also announced major private investment commitments into developing Artificial Intelligence data centers across the country.
The so-called “Stargate” project would harness $500 billion in investments from companies such as Oracle and OpenAI to build out massive data centers and put the United States at the forefront of AI development.
WTBA’s partners at ARTBA provided the following further analysis on Trump’s series of executive orders:
- Regulatory Freeze – Federal agencies may not propose or finalize any rule changes until they have been reviewed and approved by a Trump appointee or designee at that agency. For rule changes that have been published but are not yet in effect, agencies should consider postponing their effective date for 60 days to enable further review. These actions are similar to those of incoming administrations in the past.
- NEPA – President Trump is revoking a Carter-era EO which empowered the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to issue regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The CEQ chair is to organize a work group tasked with expediting and simplifying the permitting process through more consistent and improved agency-level NEPA regulations.
- DEI Programs – The White House has ordered the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, particularly relating to federal hiring, training and “environmental justice” efforts. While the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program remains part of federal law, these principles could affect the new administration’s approach to administering DBE requirements for federal-aid highway and transit projects, or defending the law against challenges in court.
- Rescission of Biden Executive Orders – President Trump explicitly revoked 78 Biden-era EOs, including Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act implementation principles focused on union labor, disadvantaged communities, and climate change, among other priorities.
- DOGE – An EO formally establishes the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), a reform initiative led by Elon Musk, as a temporary entity within the White House. It will focus on “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,” with representatives dispatched to each agency
