Pete Buttigieg, President Joe Biden's nominee to head the U.S. Transportation Department, made his case to a Senate panel on Thursday for why he should be confirmed and said the country must do more to improve its infrastructure.
Colette Luke has more.
PETE BUTTIGIEG: "Now is the time and I believe we have a real chance to deliver for the American people." Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg made his case to a U.S. Senate panel Thursday on why he should be confirmed as President Biden’s transportation secretary and urged lawmakers that more must be done to improve the country’s infrastructure.
BUTTIGIEG: "So much is at stake today and so much is possible as our country works to emerge from the crises of this moment with bipartisan appetite for a generational opportunity to transform and improve America’s infrastructure." Buttigieg pledged among his top priorities as secretary would be safety, fighting climate change and creating jobs.
BUTTIGIEG: "I believe good transportation policy can play no less a role than making possible the American Dream, getting people and goods to where they need to be and directly and indirectly creating good paying jobs, but I also recognize that at their worst, misguided policies and missed opportunities in transportation can reinforce racial and economic inequality, by dividing or isolating neighborhoods and undermining government’s basic role of empowering Americans to thrive.” If confirmed, Buttigieg – a rising star and former rival of Biden’s for the Democratic presidential nomination last year – would be in charge of a department that oversees aviation, highways, vehicles, pipelines and transit.
In April 2019, then President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders agreed to spend $2 trillion on infrastructure over a decade, but the president never proposed any new revenue source to pay for the upgrades and never made it a priority.
BUTTIGIEG: "And I’d like to take the time to introduce my husband Chasten Buttigieg who is here with me today." If confirmed, Buttigieg would make history, becoming the first openly gay member of a Cabinet to be confirmed by the Senate.
Pete Buttigieg, President Joe Biden's nominee to head the U.S. Transportation Department, told a U.S. Senate panel on Thursday that..
