By BERNARD CONDON, AP Enterprise Author
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean Duffy was confirmed Tuesday as transportation secretary, giving him a key position in serving to President Donald Trump minimize rules and repair the nation’s infrastructure.
The previous Wisconsin congressman has promised safer Boeing planes, much less regulation and assist for U.S. firms creating self-driving vehicles — whereas not giving any breaks to Elon Musk, a key participant in that expertise.
Duffy, a 53-year-old former actuality TV star, was accredited with bipartisan help on a 77-22 vote within the Senate.
He takes over the Division of Transportation at an important time on the company, an enormous employer of greater than 55,000 that spends tens of billions of {dollars} yearly, oversees the nation’s highways, railroads and airspace and units security requirements for trains, vehicles and vans.
At his affirmation listening to earlier this month, Duffy vowed to “restore global confidence” in Boeing, rent extra air site visitors controllers, minimize DEI packages at DOT and create federal guidelines for self-driving vehicles as a substitute of leaving that to patchwork of state rules that critics mentioned holds again U.S. improvement.
One of many largest beneficiaries to a such a regulatory overhaul can be Musk. Inventory his electrical car maker, Tesla, has soared since Trump was elected president on hopes that unified federal guidelines shall be handed. Traders are additionally anticipating the DOT’s investigations into Tesla to be eased now that Musk is a key adviser to the president.
However when pressed by senators in hearings, Duffy promised to carry agency.
“I will let NHTSA do its investigation,” mentioned Duffy, referring to the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration, the company in his division accountable for probes and crackdowns on automobile makers.
China got here up a number of occasions at Duffy’s affirmation listening to as a menace to U.S. improvement of self-driving expertise overseen by DOT. A giant Chinese language electrical car maker there, BYD, is stealing market share from Tesla each in China and Europe.
“Without clear rules, or a patchwork of rules state by state, we put ourselves behind those countries that allow innovators to expand and grow,” Duffy mentioned at his listening to earlier than Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation “We are in direct competition with China.”
The company has a number of open investigations into the security of Tesla autos, some specializing in what the corporate calls Full Self-Driving, a misnomer as a result of the autos require human intervention at any second. In October, NHTSA launched a probe into Tesla’s self-driving system overlaying 2.4 million autos after getting experiences of crashes in low-visibility circumstances, together with one which killed a pedestrian.
Musk, the world’s richest man who has dubbed himself “first buddy” of Trump, gave an estimated $250 million to Trump’s presidential marketing campaign.
Duffy’s choices at DOT can have a direct impression on earnings not solely at Tesla however Musk’s rocket firm, SpaceX, which has billions of {dollars} of contracts with federal companies. DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration has sometimes fined the corporate for violations, together with $633,000 final yr for alleged security violations throughout two Florida launches.
Initially Revealed: January 28, 2025 at 12:50 PM EST
