Lotta Republicans gonna be lining up to get money approved by Congress for the Biden Admin, which will need an OK from Treasury Sec. Pete Buttigieg…..
They may have bitched about the law…
But I’m sure the Mayors and Governor’s in Red states will be right up there on the line askingh for their share of the $1 Trillion that is becoming available …
And those Red state officals ain’t gonna say ‘Thank You ‘ to Democratic President Biden in public…..
The $1 trillion law is at the core of the administration’s efforts to rebuild the country, giving huge sums to bridges and highways while setting the nation on a path to widespread electric car usage, better passenger rail service, more reliable buses and safer routes for walking and cycling. The Transportation Department also has prized programs that benefit social justice and climate goals, clashing with Republican lawmakers and state officials who say new federal goals are restricting their choices.
The vast majority of transportation money that originates in Washington is allocated to states, which have final say in how it is spent, but the infrastructure law offers new discretion and billions of dollars to an administration with its own set of priorities. Programs like the one funding the Fernley project let Buttigieg intervene directly in potentially thousands of communities, giving him immense power to alter the national landscape for generations.
Buttigieg, whose presidential campaign at age 37 elevated him to Democratic Party stardom, is also considered a contender in 2024 and beyond. His months-long infrastructure rollout grants a cross-country platform largely unmatched by possible future rivals….
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Since taking the helm of a 54,000-employee agency about half the size of his South Bend, Ind., hometown, Buttigieg has faced snarled supply chains, a narrowly averted strike by railroad unions and a wave of consumer dissatisfaction with the airline industry — all while becoming the father of twins.
“At the beginning, it’s like being shot out of a cannon: The enormity of your own agency, the sweep of your responsibilities,” Buttigieg said.
But it’s the infrastructure law that likely will define Buttigieg’s tenure. The Transportation Department has gone from an annual budget of less than $90 billion before the pandemic to $140 billion this year, growth that was driven mostly by the infrastructure law. Much of the new funding from the law flows through long-established programs that pass money to state transportation departments, but it also created dozens of new programs to pay for jobs both big — like repairing the nation’s 44,000 dilapidated bridges — and small, such as ensuring salmon can swim under Pacific Northwest roads…