Key facts
- The Trump administration is urging Congress to make daylight saving time permanent.
- The administration also wants to deprioritize bicycle lanes and mass transit.
- Funding for electric vehicle charging stations is targeted for cuts.
- The push for permanent daylight saving time is part of legislation to renew federal transportation programs.
- The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent.
The Trump administration is advocating for significant changes to federal transportation programs, including making daylight saving time permanent, as part of legislation due by the end of September. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has urged lawmakers to deprioritize bicycle lanes and mass transit, cut funding for electric vehicle charging stations, and accelerate the adoption of self-driving cars.
Duffy's letter to Congress also includes a request for an additional $1 billion for the reconstruction of New York Penn Station and suggests renaming it after President Donald Trump, a move previously linked to unfreezing transportation funds. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, and President Trump is reportedly making personal calls to senators to garner support for it.
The proposed five-year transportation bill from the House would authorize $580 billion in funding and introduce a $130 annual fee for electric vehicle owners to contribute to road repairs. Secretary Duffy argued that permanent daylight saving time would eliminate the inconvenience of changing clocks and could prevent hundreds of traffic deaths annually by shifting daylight to more active driving hours. He also called for a voluntary pilot program for robotaxis and to preempt state regulations on self-driving vehicles.
In addition to these proposals, Duffy urged Congress to restrict grant funding for bicycle lanes, citing concerns that they reduce travel throughput for motor vehicles and contribute to congestion. This comes despite a 4% rise in bicyclist deaths last year. The Transportation Department's suspension of an EV charger infrastructure program in February 2025 was previously declared unlawful by a judge.