Buttigieg nominee for Secretary of Transportation

Gasoline taxes will go through the roof, as well as other taxes to pay for his green new deal. AOC will actually be running things, anyway.

eolesen wrote: ↑Sun Dec 20, 2020 1:21 am I'd put my money on Biden being gone by 2023, which won't leave a lot of opportunity to be remembered as a transportation friendly administration.

Gateway benefits NY and NJ more than anything. Few people outside a 100 mile radius of NYC will not care about whether it happens or not.

Gone how? Be very thoughtful in how you respond.

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Let’s stay on Mr Buttigeigs nomination and transportation policy for the Nation

Sure, we can talk about Pete as the current name being proposed, but how long Biden is actually in the Oval Office has a direct bearing on what that policy is...

There are multiple reasons I question Biden serving out a complete term, and if Harris takes over, I'd expect the Cabinet to change. And the priorities.

Personally, I think Buttigeig's vastly underqualified to be in a cabinet position. South Bend had about 1,000 employees and an annual budget of less than $400M.

And now he's going to lead an agency with 55,000 employees and a $72B budget?.... He'd be better used somewhere like Veterans Affairs. At least he has some relevant life experiences there.

Plenty of people live past 82 ... just because Biden is older than all living former presidents other than Jimmy Carter (96) doesn't mean he won't live four years.

As far as transportation policy - perhaps a reform of highway policy is what is needed. The transportation policy doesn't have to be a policy with handouts to railroad and rail transit to be a good policy for the nation. What Mr Biden needs is good administrators who will take plans and make them work. Buttigieg can do that.

Insulting Chao on political grounds doesn't go very far in rebutting the lack of relevant experience of this nominee...

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Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 12:32 pm Let's just say Mayor Pete is an out of work politician that "the Powers" within the Party want to keep visible. He's smart and articulate and won't be "over-age" for '28 or '32 (Kammy likely has "dibs" on '24).

That he is "out of work" means he won't upset any "balance". I think Joe wants his administration to be known as one of "reconciliation", and would have been happy to have Liz in his Cabinet. But if he did, she'd have to resign her Senate seat. Anybody think Mass Republican Governor Baker would be about to appoint a Democrat?

So it's let Pete have a "second tier" seat at the table, where there be enough "photo-ops" both at the WH and whatever transportation infrastructure projects Joe can initiate during his Presidency.

With regard to his resume, or lack thereof, its worth remembering that most of what a Cabinet-level agency head actually *does* involves advocating for his/her Agencies priorities within the context of the broader Government and acting as final signoff and oversight on the people farther down in the bureaucracy-- the career civil servants who do the actual grunt work. It's not as if the Secretary is getting down in the weeds of, say, the engineering specs for a new flyover somewhere south of Chicago.

Elaine Chao has a transportation-related resume as long as my arm. Her (unanimously-confirmed) predecessor was the Mayor of Charlotte, NC. His predecessor was a career Republican politician from Illinois.

I hate to say that related experience is irrelevant, but lets just say that, like with Ambassadorships, it's not the most relevant criteria from a political standpoint.

Ridgefielder sums it up beautifully.
Been an expert in the field may sometimes mean not been able to see the wood for the trees.
And CEO's tend to jump from one field to another these days.
Perhaps the unsung heroes are those often berated civil servants , who blend all the detail down to something politicans can decide on .

The appointees that take over the various departments are going to need all their wits to get the underlings to do their bidding. Several departments have lost key personnel by the act of transferring whole departments to other locations the past 3 years. As well many promotions have been not the most qualified but -------. I feel that a lot of institutional knowledge has been lost. Just look at the CDC with the closing of the department responsible to monitor dieses that are potential epidemic causes. That is just one example of many.

If the Republicans hold on to the two Senate seats in Georgia, Biden may have some difficulty getting his nominees approved.