![]() "I look forward to working with him to pass a major infrastructure package and transit reauthorization next Congress so we can ensure that our infrastructure and public transportation systems will be sustainable and equitable for generations to come.”įormer DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, who had endorsed Emanuel for the position, called Buttigieg's selection "a home run. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over transit. “Pete Buttigieg is more than ready to finally address our nation’s infrastructure crisis," said Sen. When Buttigieg endorsed him, Biden praised his former rival’s integrity and compared the military veteran to his son, Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015. And it will have to monitor the Boeing 737 Max’s return to the sky and complaints that the safety culture has become too lax at the Federal Aviation Administration.īuttigieg did not initially appear a front-runner for the DOT position, but his role as a key surrogate for Biden during the campaign made him a likely choice for a Cabinet post. ![]() #Bidens vmt how to#If confirmed, Buttigieg will step into the DOT role at a crucial time for transportation: The pandemic has decimated most modes of transportation, with airlines, transit and Amtrak among those seeking federal financial aid to help it survive a steep decline in ridership.īeyond that, the administration will likely be reversing President Donald Trump’s moves to loosen Obama-era auto emissions regulations automobiles are increasingly embracing autonomous technology, and the Department must determine how to regulate such technology. He’ll have a key opportunity to invest in infrastructure next year: Congress has extended the 2015 highway law, which expired in October, through the end of 2021, giving Biden an obvious legislative vehicle to use as he pursues his infrastructure agenda. Those ideas appear likely to mesh well with Biden’s.īiden ran on a platform of “Build Back Better,” and has identified transportation, the top source of greenhouse gas emissions, as a way to both rejuvenate an economy battered by the pandemic and to work toward a solution to climate change. That plan cost $1 trillion, including a $160 billion investment in transit. Just as Biden hopes his infrastructure plan will create jobs, Buttigieg’s own infrastructure plan promised to create 6 million well-paying jobs, clean up the environment and create affordable ways to get to work. “The reality is we are going to have to graduate from the gas tax,” Buttigieg said at a panel on infrastructure in February, adding that the gas tax is “not a viable long-term funding mechanism for our highways.” $1 trillion Pilot programs for such an alternative are underway in states such as Oregon, California, Colorado and Washington State. ![]() ![]() #Bidens vmt drivers#The choice was announced Tuesday evening by the Biden transition team.īuttigieg, who beat out former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to receive the nomination, was one of the few 2020 presidential contenders to outright endorse converting from the current Highway Trust Fund, which is paid for through the gas tax, to a “vehicle miles traveled” alternative that would tax drivers based on their road mileage. At the DOT, he’ll oversee a budget of about $90 billion - including about $22 billion in discretionary dollars - and manage a staff of about 55,000.īut in choosing Buttigieg as his designee to run the Department of Transportation, Biden has picked one of the few former Democratic presidential rivals to outright endorse a transformative change to how highways are paid for. The 38-year old former mayor oversaw a budget of about $358 million in a city of about 102,000. On paper, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg seems an unlikely pick for President-elect Joe Biden’s secretary of Transportation. ![]()
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