Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg could become one of the more powerful brokers in Washington when President Biden signs a $1 trillion infrastructure package into law. Buttigieg will have discretion over about $120 billion in new funding.
Republicans seeking to exploit the issue pounced on Buttigieg’s words.
But Buttigieg didn’t engage and was off to his next stop, the climate summit in Scotland. There he stood for almost a dozen interviews as he promoted provisions of Biden’s bill that would build. He also engaged with young climate activists and took photos with former President Barack Obama. His department later announced it would grant extra discretionary aid to help as many as 20 U.S. communities remove portions of interstates, redesign rural main streets and repurpose former rail lines. That could help places from Syracuse, New York, where many residents back a plan to tear down portions and build a walkable grid, to racially divided areas in New Orleans and St. Paul, Minnesota.
“Armed with that much money and significant latitude in how to spend it, Buttigieg is poised to be the most influential secretary of transportation ever,” said Jeff Davis, a senior fellow at the Eno Center for Transportation. The department was founded in 1967.
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