Duffy was an early reality television star in the 1990s, appearing on MTV’s “The Real World: Boston” before entering politics. He served as district attorney of Ashland County, Wisconsin, before being elected to Congress as part of the Republican wave in 2010. A father of nine, Duffy is married to fellow Real World star Rachel Campos-Duffy. He resigned from his seat in 2019 after learning his youngest child was expected to be born with health problems.
After leaving office, Duffy was briefly signed up as part of a pro-Trump stable of CNN contributors, drawing criticism for comments questioning the loyalty of a key witness in Trump’s first impeachment case. He subsequently moved to Fox, where he’s now the co-host of “The Bottom Line.
Duffy was an early supporter of Trump, who urged him in 2021 to run for governor of Wisconsin, saying: “He would be fantastic!”
On Monday, Trump also pointed to Duffy’s work in Congress and said he had worked with Democrats to help the construction of a major bridge.
“He will prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness and Beauty when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports,” Trump said in a statement. “He will ensure our ports and dams serve our Economy without compromising our National Security, and he will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers.”
Duffy thanked Trump on X late Monday night, tweeting, “I’m eager to help you usher in a new golden age of transportation.”
The Transportation Department is sprawling, funding infrastructure projects around the country and overseeing safety. With responsibility for vehicle safety and space launches, the transportation secretary will be a key player in the relationship between the government and Musk, a close ally of Trump who has been tasked with leading a panel to slash the federal government.
Duffy has little transportation experience, but that is not unusual for people nominated to run the department — current secretary Pete Buttigieg had previously been mayor of his hometown. Past presidents have opted to buttress their picks with a deputy more deeply steeped in policy issues.
The new transportation secretary will lead regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who have scrutinized safety risks with Tesla’s driver-assistance technology and will hold the power to authorize the kind of automated vehicles that Musk is staking the company’s future on. Before the election, Musk said he would seek to use the “Department of Government Efficiency” — the name for the cost-cutting panel — to create a pathway for federal regulators to authorize robotic cars, something NHTSA has been reluctant to do under the Biden administration.
The Federal Aviation Administration, meanwhile, has sought to fine Musk’s SpaceX over allegations that it failed to follow rocket launch licenses. That provoked a public clash with Musk and his allies. Unlike most presidential appointees, the head of the FAA holds a fixed term and typically stays on even after a change of administration. But the current administrator, Michael Whitaker, is likely to face pressure to leave. Musk posted on X in September that he “needs to resign.
Whitaker said in a statement that he was committed to aviation safety and would “work closely with the new Administration to ensure a smooth transition.”
Trump’s transition team and Musk have not explained what steps they will take to avoid conflicts of interest.
Some tech industry leaders had been pushing for former Uber executive Emil Michael to be nominated to the position. Musk said in a post on X on Saturday that he would be “effective.”
The Transportation Department provides tens of billions of dollars a year to fund the construction of roads, bridges, transit lines, railroads and airports. It also oversees the safety of rail, cars, trucking and pipelines. The FAA, the department’s largest agency, runs an air traffic control system responsible for tens of thousands of flights per day while also reviewing the safety of aircraft manufacturers and airlines. Meanwhile, NHTSA sets fuel economy standards for cars and trucks.
The first Trump administration repeatedly failed to craft an infrastructure package, to the point that “infrastructure week” became a punchline in Washington. But President Joe Biden was able to forge a bipartisan deal, passing a $1 trillion bill in 2021 that significantly boosted federal spending on transportation projects and runs into 2026, giving the new secretary a tailwind.
Most of the money flows directly to states and transit agencies under formulas set out in the law, but the secretary does control billions in discretionary grants. The Biden administration sought to use that money to promote environmental projects and efforts to reconnect communities harmed by the construction of highways in decades past. The new team is expected to largely step back from that type of work, but the incoming administration has said little about its priorities.
The job also comes with challenges to be resolved, particularly when it comes to aviation. The FAA stepped up its oversight of Boeing after a door panel flew off an Alaska Airlines jet in January. The agency has capped the number of aircraft Boeing can produce each month and is likely to have to make a decision on whether the company has done enough to improve safety and can have the cap lifted.
No comments:
Post a Comment