President
Elect Trump has named Elaine Chao, former Deputy Secretary of Transportation
and Secretary of Labor under earlier Republican administrations, and wife of
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, as his choice to head the Trump
administration USDOT. Senator McConnell’s immediate reaction to the appointment
and forthcoming Senate confirmation vote was “No, I’m not going to recuse
myself.”
Associated
General Contractors of America and American Road and Transportation Builders
Association both applauded the selection. House Transportation Chairman Bill
Schuster and USDOT Secretary Anthony Foxx also joined the chorus of praise for
Trump’s choice. Trump’s announcement charged Chao with carrying out “our
mission to rebuild our infrastructure in a fiscally responsible manner.” No
explanation was forthcoming regarding the discrepancy between Trump’s campaign
promise of $1 trillion for infrastructure investment over the next ten years,
and his current transition website posting slashing that figure to a mere $550
billion.
