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WHO: Sean Duffy

Nominated for: minister of transportation

You may know him from: Duffy has been a contributor to Fox News since 2020. He also served in Congress as a Republican representative in his home state of Wisconsin for more than eight years.

More about Tamiflu:

• Long public service record, but short transportation resume
• One of many Trump Cabinet picks with ties to Fox News
• Before entering politics, he starred in MTV's "The Real World"

Position: Secretary of Transportation heads a department with a budget of more than $100 billion and is responsible for maintaining the nation's aviation system, highways, railroads and ports.

WASHINGTON — While in Congress, Republican Sean Duffy worked with lawmakers from both parties to replace an 80-year-old bridge that straddles the St. Croix River between his home state of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The bridge of history.

More than a decade later, the St. Croix Bridge and the relationships the new bridge helped forge came up repeatedly during Duffy's confirmation hearing Wednesday to lead the Department of Transportation.

"When I fly to Minneapolis and drive to Hayward, where I was born and raised, I cross that bridge," Duffy said during the hearing. "I do it for us together every time. "I am proud of our bipartisanship and would like to continue this work if I am confirmed."

The project requires congressional action to grant an exemption from the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Duffey's efforts to achieve that goal have helped endear him to several Senate Democrats, including Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin.

"Our efforts show that when we work together, we can get important things done. But we don't always see eye to eye," Baldwin said in a speech introducing Duffy to the committee. "But at the end of the day, I believe Sean is the right person for the job in the upcoming administration."

While some of President-elect Trump's Cabinet nominees faced sharp questioning from Democrats on Capitol Hill this week, Duffey received a warm welcome from Baldwin and other members of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Duffy has a long history in public service, having represented a northern Wisconsin district in the House of Representatives for more than eight years. But beyond the St. Croix Crossing, he has relatively little direct experience in transportation or leading a large organization like the Department of Transportation with a budget of more than $100 billion.

During his confirmation hearing, Duffy pledged to prioritize road and air safety and said he would "work to reduce the red tape that slows down critical infrastructure projects and ensure funds are spent efficiently." He pledged that as regulators work to restore control of Confidence at the troubled plane maker that he will bring "tough love" to Boeing. Duffy said he would address the shortage of air traffic controllers while hiring only the "best and brightest" for the jobs.

After leaving Congress in 2019, Duffy worked as a lobbyist and contributor for Fox News. In announcing his selection, President-elect Trump praised Duffy as a "respected voice and communicator." Truth social posts November.

Trump has looked to Fox News' rankings to find many of his Cabinet nominees. But few have as much on-camera experience as Duffy, who starred on MTV's "The Real World: Boston" in 1997. He met his future wife, Fox News contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy, while they were starring in another MTV reality show together. . Campos-Duffy and eight of the couple's nine children attended Wednesday's hearing.

Duffy noted that road safety "is of paramount importance to me because my wife survived a fatal head-on crash that profoundly changed her life."

outgoing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg He also had little direct experience in transportation before taking power. Under Buttigieg, the department has appropriated billions of dollars from bipartisan infrastructure laws to build roads and bridges, dig tunnels, modernize airports and more.

Duffy was asked multiple times on Wednesday whether funding for the projects would continue to flow.

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., specifically asked about funding for the Gateway Program, a multibillion-dollar effort to replace a series of dilapidated rail tunnels and tunnels connecting northern New Jersey to Manhattan. bridge.

“I want to see the money spent,” Duffy said. “But I think those good projects that are going on we’ll continue.”

The Department of Transportation includes the Federal Aviation Administration, which is responsible for the nation's airspace, and the agency that oversees the nation's railroads and sets safety standards for passenger cars, trucks and commercial vehicles.

The department's broad responsibilities intersect in multiple areas with the business interests of Elon Musk, the world's richest man, who has invested more than $2.5 billion into President-elect Trump's 2024 campaign.

Now, security advocates worry that Musk may try to influence the federal agencies that oversee his businesses. His rocket company SpaceX sometimes Conflict with regulators FAA launch practice.

Federal regulators like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, are investigating crashes involving Tesla's advanced driver-assistance systems. and Security advocates worry the Trump administration may move to end these investigationsand crash reporting requirements that Tesla objects to.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., pressed Duffy, asking if he would allow traffic safety investigators to "follow the evidence and conduct the investigation objectively?"

"Yes, I committed to this committee and to you that I will have NHTSA investigate," Duffy responded.

The nominee has been asked multiple times about his level of commitment to Amtrak — not just from Democratic senators from New Jersey and Delaware, but also from Republicans in Kansas and Mississippi.

Duffy acknowledged that he voted against Amtrak funding when he was a congressman from rural Wisconsin. But he said, "This committee spoke loudly about Amtrak and railroads in their home state."

Duffy said that if he is confirmed, which seems likely, his first trip as transportation secretary will be to the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, where Flooding caused by Hurricane Helen Major interstates were damaged, along with countless smaller roads and bridges.

"This is an emergency," Duffy said. "I will do everything in the Department of Transportation's power to move this forward as quickly as possible so that these communities can have access and the roads can be functional again."