Tag: Pete Buttigieg

Rolling back a rollback: Buttigieg deletes some Trump-era limits on regulation

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg moved Wednesday to undo key deregulatory actions by the Trump administration, an overhaul that department officials said was necessary to address challenges that include climate change, racial injustices, the coronavirus pandemic and the economy.

In an obscure but potent bureaucratic step, Buttigieg formally deleted many internal departmental rules and policies put in place under his predecessor, Elaine Chao, that were part of the Trump administration’s push to pare back regulations, and in some cases, limit their enforcement.

The changes at Transportation are an outgrowth of a broader effort by President Biden to reverse Trump’s executive orders directing federal agencies to sharply limit their regulatory reach. Embodying the now-removed Trump orders was one that instructed department officials to find two regulations to eliminate for every one they imposed. Continue reading.

Buttigieg makes equity a top priority for DOT

As Transportation secretary, Buttigieg is making the fight against systemic racism a centerpiece of his job.

Criticized during his 2020 presidential bid for not adequately addressing systemic racism when he was mayor of South Bend, Ind., Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has now made the fight against that issue a centerpiece of his new job.

Buttigieg talks about the issue frequently. On Feb. 4, Transportation Equity Day — the birthday of Rosa Parks — he sent four tweets on the topic. He’s talked about it on MSNBC and CNN. Last week, he talked about it on a Zoom call with the African American Mayors Association.

In his appearances, Buttigieg is repentant for the federal government’s role in building a federal transportation system that frequently cut through Black and brown neighborhoods in order to build freeways, often cutting off Black and brown populations from economic opportunity. Continue reading.

Buttigieg in quarantine after possible Covid exposure

DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg is quarantining for the next 14 days after a member of his security detail tested positive for Covid-19. 

According to a press statement by DOT chief of staff Laura Schiller, the agent had been in close contact with Buttigieg, “including this morning prior to the agent’s positive result.“

Buttigieg also took a routine Covid PCR test Monday morning and the virus was not detected, nor is Buttigieg having symptoms. He has received the first dose of the vaccination and will get the second dose “when his quarantine is completed,” Schiller said. Continue reading.

Mayor Pete becomes Secretary Pete, with a fan club and unusual celebrity status

Pete Buttigieg takes the reins at DOT and brings his Twitter army with him.

Pete Buttigieg will be the next Transportation secretary, bringing his political celebrity and legion of super fans to a mammoth agency that’s not used to headlines — unless they’re jokes about “Infrastructure Week.”

After four years of leadership under former President Donald Trump’s Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, a Washington, D.C., insider who was notoriously unavailable to reporters, DOT has a new leader who made near-daily appearances on cable TV even before the Senate confirmed him in an 86-13 vote Tuesday.

The one-time presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Ind., has fielded questions during cable TV appearances on everything from impeachment to the former administration’s transgender military ban, serving as what amounts to a surrogate for President Joe Biden’s policies writ large. Continue reading.

Biden to name Pete Buttigieg to lead Department of Transportation

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Joe Biden plans to name Mayor Pete Buttigieg as his transportation secretary as early as today, tapping a former rival to help rebuild America’s infrastructure, according to three people familiar with the matter. 

Why it matters: By selecting Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, for transportation, Biden will be nominating the first openly gay person for a Cabinet position. 

  • Biden will also ensure that the 38-year-old Buttigieg, who rocketed to the front of the Democratic Party and won the most delegates in Iowa, plays a central role in his administration, as billions of dollars are expected to run through the Transportation Department if Biden passed his Build Back Better agenda. Continue reading.