Sean Duffy confirmed by the Senate to lead the Transportation Department
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NEW YORK — Sean Duffy was confirmed Tuesday as Transportation secretary, giving him a key role in helping President Trump cut regulations and fix the nation’s infrastructure.
The former Wisconsin congressman has promised safer planes, less regulation and help for U.S. companies developing self-driving cars — while not giving any breaks to Elon Musk, a key player in that technology and a top Trump advisor.
Duffy, a 53-year-old former reality TV star, was approved with bipartisan support on a 77-22 vote in the Senate.
He takes over the Department of Transportation at a crucial time for the agency, a massive employer of more than 55,000 that spends tens of billions of dollars annually, oversees the nation’s highways, railroads and airspace and sets safety standards for trains, cars and trucks.
At his confirmation hearing this month, Duffy vowed to “restore global confidence” in Boeing, hire more air traffic controllers, cut diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Transportation Department and create federal guidelines for self-driving cars instead of leaving regulation to a patchwork of state rules that critics say is holding back development.
Duffy is a former reality TV star who was one of Trump’s most visible defenders on cable news — a prime concern for the media-focused president-elect.
One of the biggest beneficiaries to a such a regulatory overhaul would be Musk. The stock price of his electric vehicle maker, Tesla, has soared since Trump was elected, based on hopes that unified federal rules will be passed. Investors also expect the Transportation Department’s investigations into Tesla to be eased now that Musk is a key advisor to the president.
But when pressed by senators in hearings, Duffy promised to hold firm.
“I will let NHTSA do its investigation,” said Duffy, referring to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agency in his department in charge of probes and crackdowns on carmakers.
China came up several times at Duffy’s confirmation hearing as a threat to U.S. development of self-driving technology overseen by the Transportation Department. A big Chinese electric vehicle maker, BYD, is taking market share from Tesla in China and Europe.
“Without clear rules, or [with] a patchwork of rules state by state, we put ourselves behind those countries that allow innovators to expand and grow,” Duffy said at his hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. “We are in direct competition with China.”
The Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as secretary of Homeland Security, putting the former South Dakota governor in charge of the sprawling agency with responsibility for border security.
The agency has several open investigations into the safety of Tesla vehicles, some focusing on what the company calls Full Self-Driving, a misnomer because the vehicles require human intervention at any moment. In October, NHTSA launched a probe into the self-driving system of 2.4 million Teslas after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has dubbed himself Trump’s “first buddy,” and gave an estimated $250 million to Trump’s presidential campaign.
Duffy’s decisions at the department will have a direct impact on profits not only at Tesla but at Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, which has billions of dollars in contracts with federal agencies. The Transportation Department’s Federal Aviation Administration has occasionally fined the company for violations, including $633,000 last year for alleged safety violations during two Florida launches.
Condon writes for the Associated Press.
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