T4America Blog

Transportation for America’s statement on the selection of Elaine Chao to serve as Secretary of Transportation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, DC — On the confirmed reports of President-elect Trump’s selection of Elaine Chao to serve as the Secretary of Transportation in his cabinet, James Corless, Director of T4America, released this short statement:

Transportation for America looks forward to working with Elaine Chao as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. While information is scarce on her personal viewpoints on transportation policy, we believe that transportation investment is an issue that can help unite us — efficiently connecting all of us to the places we need to go each day.

Chao is certainly a capable manager for a large federal agency like USDOT, having led the Department of Labor for the entirety of President George W. Bush’s two terms, as well as a stint as deputy secretary at USDOT under his father, President George H.W. Bush.

While federal policy governing the majority of transportation spending has been determined for the next four years by Congress’s FAST Act transportation authorization passed in 2015, President-elect Trump has stated that infrastructure will be a priority of his first 100 days in office, and the incoming secretary will surely have a sizable impact on any possible infrastructure package in 2017.

It’s crucial that Elaine Chao and USDOT exert their influence to ensure that any new money flowing into infrastructure is directed to the projects that can bring the greatest return on investment, boost our local economies, and continue building a transportation system that can provide access to opportunity for all Americans.

We look forward to working with her and continuing our strong relationship with USDOT.

Transportation for America is an alliance of elected, business and civic leaders from communities across the country, united to ensure that states and the federal government step up to invest in smart, homegrown, locally-driven transportation solutions — because these are the investments that hold the key to our future economic prosperity.