Pete Buttigieg says what he will do first now that he is out of work
Buttigieg is proud of the things he accomplished as the first out gay cabinet member to serve throughout a full presidential administration, but he also shared some regrets in a recent exit interview with Politico. While Buttigieg is proud of the things he accomplished as the first out gay cabinet member ever to serve throughout a full presidential administration, he also shared some of his regrets in a recent exit interview with Politico.
Buttigieg said he has spoken with his incoming replacement, Sean Duffy, and believes he can do a good job; though he adds that his position’s effectiveness was “largely put in the hands of… state or local or tribal or regional authorities” who are overseeing projects funded by President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure law. Many of these authorities aren’t necessarily Republican, Buttigieg notes, and the secretary is expected to deal with them equally.
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10 times Pete Buttigieg proved he is a great Transportation Secretary
Pete’s tenure is marked by innovative leadership and significant achievements.
“I’m absolutely convinced that we are leaving America’s transportation system in much better condition than we found it,” Buttigieg told the aforementioned publication, noting that the infrastructure law helped get 72,000 projects underway, 22,000 of which are now complete.
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Biden recently complained to USA Today, “We would’ve been a hell of a lot better off had we been able to go much harder at getting some of these projects in the ground quicker.”
Buttigieg said he thought Biden “was getting at is an impatience we all feel about the recognition and credit that this work deserves,” adding, “The nature of the beast with this infrastructure work is that it takes longer than a political cycle to get it done.”
He noted that one the biggest transportation projects that he’s responsible for, the tunnels between New York and New Jersey, won’t be completed for anywhere from three to five presidential terms (roughly 12 to 20 years). He compared benefits of infrastructure bill with those of Affordable Care Act, the massive health insurance reform spearheaded by President Barak in 2010. There’s a lot of that with this stuff.” There’s a lot of that here with this stuff.”
Buttigieg also said that news of his department’s accomplishments rarely ever made headlines or viral waves on sociala media because “we were competing with a lot of other things for attention” and, “Good news is no news: That
unambiguously and uncontroversially good things command less attention.”
After lamenting the problem of viral disinformation on social media — something he called a “massive challenge,” noting that it makes governance, conversations, and good decision-making much harder — he mentioned his pride at helping reduce roadways deaths by over 5.6% since 2021. Buttigieg discussed his future plans after he leaves his previous job. He’s considering enrolling in Northwestern Michigan College to obtain his pilot’s license under their flight program. He said he would be spending more time outside and chopping wood. “I’d like to spend more time with students and ideas. I’m trying to find ways to do that. Looking forward to making up for some lost time.” Looking forward to making up for some lost time.”[is,]He said he hopes that, in the future, he’ll be able to point out different pieces of infastructure to his children that resulted from his work, that his children will benefit from their construction and that he’ll tell them, “I worked on that, and that’s one of the reasons why I was working so hard back when you were really little and we were getting to know each other.”
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