Department of Transportation News

The Daily Signal reports on Department of Transportation news with analysis and commentary on infrastructure spending, highway policy, airline regulations, electric vehicle mandates, and the federal government’s role in transportation and mobility across America.
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  • news

    EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s Transportation Department Cut $9.5B of Waste in 100 Days
    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Secretary Sean Duffy is celebrating 100 days of prioritizing safety and efficiency at the Department of Transportation. “The Department of Transportation is focused on its core mission of safety and efficiency,” Duffy said in a statement shared with The Daily Signal. “Under this administration, America is building again—forging a future with…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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  • opinion

    Distracted By Climate Change? Former Trump Transportation Official Weighs in on Bridge Collapse
    What will be the long-term impact of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, Tuesday? What industries will be affected and how? And who in the U.S. supervises ship safety—and are they prioritizing safety ahead of issues like climate change? Steve Bradbury, who formerly served as acting deputy secretary of the…
    Brian Gottstein
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  • opinion

    California Transportation Policy Is Not for the Free
    MIDLAND, Texas—Here in Texas oil country, your Uber is more likely to be a pickup than a Prius. Daniel, who works in the oil pipeline business when he’s not driving for Uber, picked me up from Midland International Air & Space Port in his Chevy Silverado. Born in Midland Memorial Hospital and raised in Midland,…
    Diana Furchtgott-Roth
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  • opinion

    Amid Aviation Crisis, Buttigieg’s Transportation Department Expands Vacation
    "Secretary Pete" seems more focused on holiday leave than fixing issues with the Department of Transportation. Things aren’t going to well for Pete Buttigieg on a number of fronts. As the secretary of transportation, he is also in charge of the Federal Aviation Administration. Wednesday morning, the FAA halted all outbound flights throughout the country…
    Roman Jankowski
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  • news

    Transportation Chief Buttigieg Uses Taxpayer-Funded Private Jets Despite Calling for Curbing Carbon Emissions
    A Biden administration Cabinet member has taken at least 18 taxpayer-funded private jets since taking office despite a strong stance on curbing carbon emissions, according to a Monday release by Americans for Public Trust. Pete Buttigieg, the 19th secretary of transportation, has reportedly taken a minimum of 18 taxpayer-funded flights while using private jets managed by…
    Bronson Winslow
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  • opinion

    5 Biden Transportation Potholes Making Motorists’ Lives Miserable
    Just a few months ago, Washington celebrated the passage of a bloated infrastructure bill. Supporters trotted out tired claims about fixing “crumbling roads and bridges” using gobs of taxpayer money. Yet even if we assume a certain amount of waste, fraud, and abuse due to the problems inherent with federal involvement, Americans might reasonably expect…
    David Ditch
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  • news

    Biden Administration Sues Texas Over Governor’s Order Restricting Transportation of Illegal Immigrants
    The Biden administration filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas challenging Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order targeting the transportation of migrants spreading COVID-19 in the state, according to court documents filed Friday. Abbott, a Republican, announced restrictions on the ground transportation of illegal migrants in federal custody who could spread COVID-19 around Texas communities…
    Kaylee Greenlee
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  • news

    Exclusive: Rep. Ted Budd Introduces Amendment to Nix Over 1,400 Earmarks From Transportation Bill
    A North Carolina congressman is introducing an amendment to remove all earmarks from a transportation spending bill slated for a House vote this week. “Taxpayers across the country are getting their first look at what Washington is like in the new earmark era,” Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said in a statement to The Daily Signal. …
    Rachel del Guidice
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  • opinion

    Call Transportation Bailouts What They Are: More Welfare for Labor Unions
    Congress is moving full steam ahead on ramming through a bloated, wasteful, and debt-exploding $1.9 trillion legislative package. Although it’s supposedly justified by the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the spending is designed to appease progressive ideological causes and politically connected interest groups. A prime example is the $57.5 billion currently earmarked for various parts of…
    David Ditch
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  • opinion

    What Social Distancing? House Transportation Bill Would Pack Americans on Mass Transit
    For months, the news media and health experts have repeatedly told Americans that the main way to stop the spread of COVID-19 is to avoid crowded and enclosed spaces. That guidance led to a nationwide shutdown of churches, schools, businesses, and other places of public gathering, causing the greatest disruption to our way of life…
    David Ditch
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  • news

    Federal Transportation Officials Launch Probe of Chick-Fil-A Bans
    The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Friday that it will investigate whether two airports violated federal law or transportation regulations by denying a contract to Chick-fil-A on religious grounds. “The Department has received complaints alleging discrimination by two airport operators against a private company due to the expression of the owner’s religious beliefs,” DOT said…
    Molly Prince
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  • opinion

    New York City Just Sent Its Transportation Industry Back to the 1930s
    At 5 o’clock on Aug. 14, New York City turned its clocks back to the 1930s. The Taxi and Limousine Commission officially stopped issuing licenses to most for-hire vehicles, effectively declaring war on Uber and Lyft in an effort to protect taxis from competition. This is the first of many steps that aim to constrain…
    Jason Snead
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  • opinion

    Transportation Reforms Take to the Fast Lane in Trump Budget
    Following on his pledge to eliminate wasteful and inappropriate federal programs, President Donald Trump’s budget blueprint delivers when it comes to the Department of Transportation. Trump’s budget blueprint shears the Department of Transportation’s discretionary budget by $2.4 billion—some 13 percent—by slashing some of its most egregious programs. Although most of the department’s funding is classified as…
    Michael Sargent
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  • news

    6 Interesting Facts About Elaine Chao, Trump’s Pick for Transportation Secretary
    President-elect Donald Trump tapped Elaine Chao to head the U.S. Department of Transportation, his transition team announced Tuesday. “Secretary Chao’s extensive record of strong leadership and her expertise are invaluable assets in our mission to rebuild our infrastructure in a fiscally responsible manner,” Trump said in a statement. “She has an amazing life story and has…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • opinion

    Can Uber End Traffic Jams? CEO Has Bold Plan to Overhaul Transportation Industry
    Travis Kalanick gave a rare interview in San Francisco this week at the mega Dreamforce conference. Since Uber began getting regularly hammered in the press for its aggressive political tactics and potential legal violations, the once outspoken CEO hasn’t given the public much direction about the future of the multi-billion-dollar transportation company. This week, he gave…
    Greg Ferenstein
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  • news

    How a Transportation Bill Could Revive the Export-Import Bank and Tackle Planned Parenthood
    As the Senate prepares to debate legislation addressing the financial future of the Highway Trust Fund, several senators are looking to the bill as a vehicle to address controversial issues, including Obamacare and Planned Parenthood’s federal funding. The Senate voted Wednesday night on a procedural measure to advance the highway funding bill, which has been dubbed…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • opinion

    Lawmakers Had 10 Months to Fix Broken Transportation Funding. They Didn’t Do Anything.
    Another day, another punt on important policy matters by members of Congress. Faced with a May 31st deadline, lawmakers’ latest “fix” for highway funding—a two-month extension of current policy—comes after members had given themselves ten months to devise a long-term solution. To almost no one’s surprise, the ten months flew by without a whisper of…
    Michael Sargent
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  • opinion

    Cartoon: Washington’s Transportation Spending
    Heritage's Michael Sargent wrote about the Highway Transit Fund earlier this week: Transportation funding could hit a dead-end at the end of the month. On May 31, the Highway Trust Fund’s authorization to pay for the nation’s highway and mass transit projects will expire. Even worse, the fund is running a $13 billion cash flow…
    Glenn Foden
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  • opinion

    Why Washington Shouldn’t Control Transportation Decisions
    Predictably, President Barack Obama’s 2016 budget request calls for higher taxes to partially finance a $4-trillion spending tsunami. One of the more senseless tax hikes would fall on multinational businesses and is sought to pay for a transportation budget more lavish than necessary. It’s baffling why Obama would propose this tax on businesses’ foreign income,…
    Emily Goff
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  • opinion

    Support Family-Friendly, Economically-Wise Policies—Not Transportation Pork or Dependency
    Is Obama’s new federally-funded infrastructure package the key to strengthening our nation’s families? That’s the argument of W. Bradford Wilcox of the American Enterprise Institute and Robert Lehrman of the Urban Institute in their essay “How to Revive the American Dream in Blue-Collar America.” It’s a misguided policy prescription, the fruit of a commitment to…
    Ryan T. Anderson | James Sherk | Emily Goff
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