ATA, Transportation Groups React Positively to DOT Nominee Foxx
Transportation stakeholder groups, including American Trucking Associations, reacted positively to President Obama’s announcement that he has picked Charlotte, N.C., Mayor Anthony Foxx to be the next transportation secretary.
“I’d like to congratulate Mayor Foxx on his nomination as transportation secretary and say we look forward to working with him once he’s confirmed by the Senate,” ATA President Bill Graves said in a statement.
“As mayor of a large city, Mayor Foxx dealt with very similar challenges with regard to transportation issues that I did when I was governor — chiefly responding to the demands of constituents and developing a multimodal transportation network,” he said. Graves was the governor of Kansas from 1995 to 2003.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said it welcomed Foxx as the successor to DOT Secretary Ray LaHood and was optimistic about working with him.
“Small businesses have faced a significant increase in costly regulatory mandates that, in our view, are the wrong way to meet our highway safety challenges,” Todd Spencer, OOIDA’s executive vice president, said in a statement. “The nomination of Mayor Foxx should be an opportunity for a fresh look at questionable regulatory initiatives.”
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, pledged to hold a confirmation hearing, the first step toward Senate confirmation, as soon as possible.
Foxx “has established himself as a strong transportation advocate and shown the ability to move transportation infrastructure projects in Charlotte,” Rockefeller said in a statement. “He can be a driving force in the federal effort to take advantage of transportation opportunities.”
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said he was “pleased the president has put forward a candidate to lead the U.S. Department of Transportation, and I congratulate Mayor Foxx upon his nomination.”
Bud Wright, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said his members “look forward to working with Mayor Foxx on the important transportation issues facing the nation and on identifying a long-term sustainable transportation funding source.”
The Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO said Foxx will need to take a leadership position in transportation-funding decisions.
“We need leadership from this administration on how to fund the nation’s long-term, multimodal transportation operating and infrastructure needs,” Edward Wytkind, TTD’s president, said in a statement.
