The Republican party’s platform recommends phasing out federal funding for transit, saying that public transportation is “an inherently local affair that serves only a small portion of the population.”
The GOP platform, which delegates to the party’s convention adopted on July 18, also opposes increasing the federal gasoline tax, which has stood at 18.4¢ per gallon since 1993.
Party platforms are general documents and statements of principles. David Bauer, American Road and Transportation Builders Association senior vice president for government relations, says, “The platforms are intended to be the respective parties’ vision for the country and their priorities.”
He adds that the document isn’t “trying to assess what can pass, what can be implemented. It’s just 'Here is the world as we think it should be.' ”
Brian Deery, senior director of the Associated General Contractors of America’s highway and transportation division, says that a party platform “includes broad statements about a lot of issues that get the most consensus within the party but significantly lacks specifics.”
He adds, “It clearly is not a legislative agenda as much as it is broad ideas.”
Besides the transportation proposals, the platform also advocates converting the Environmental Protection Agency to "an independent bipartisan commission," like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "with structural safeguards against politicized science."