Congress cuts off federal funding for streetcars nationwide
H.R. 3822 — No Desire for Streetcars Act · Filed by Scott Perry (R-PA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jun 6, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill prohibits federal transportation funding from four major grant programs—Surface Transportation Block Grants, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Grants, Urbanized Area Formula Grants, and Fixed Guideway Capital Investment Grants—from being used to build, operate, or maintain streetcars. States and cities that currently receive these federal dollars would be barred from spending them on streetcar projects.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole function is to prohibit federal transportation funds from being used for a specific transit mode (streetcars). It is a straightforward restriction on how existing federal grant money may be spent, not a deregulation, subsidy, or procedural measure.
What the text implies
- Cities that have already invested local funds in streetcar infrastructure planning or early construction may find federal co-funding unavailable, potentially stranding projects or forcing local budget reallocation.
- The bill does not grandfather existing streetcar projects or commitments; it applies prospectively to all four programs, potentially affecting projects in advanced planning stages.
The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.
Who it affects
Citizens in cities that have chosen or are planning streetcar systems lose access to federal transportation funding for those projects. The bill restricts a funding option available to local governments, reducing their ability to finance transit infrastructure they may have democratically chosen.