U.S. Senator Rick Scott

Buttigieg defends administration efforts to ease inflation

Pete Buttigieg testifying in the Senate.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday deflected attempts to blame the Biden administration for soaring inflation while acknowledging that supply chain turmoil and high gas prices are major factors contributing to the problem.

Testifying at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing to defend the Department of Transportation’s $142 billion 2023 budget — a 60% increase over the Trump administration’s last DOT budget request — Buttigieg said his department is taking responsibility for “doing...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/buttigieg-defends-administration-efforts-to-ease-inflation

Rating Secretary Pete: Infrastructure boom or supply chain bust?

National exposure as a presidential candidate in the 2020 presidential election made Pete Buttigieg probably the most well-known U.S. transportation secretary in history when he was sworn in on Feb. 3, 2021.

He joined the Biden administration just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to wreak havoc on domestic supply chains, while at the same time President Biden was under pressure to deliver on a main pillar upon which his campaign was built: a transformational transportation infrastructure...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/rating-secretary-pete-infrastructure-boom-or-supply-chain-bust

FMCSA administrator: Doesn’t anyone want this job?

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is in the position — once again — of having to name an acting administrator after another brief stint by a deputy chief opting to leave before being confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Meera Joshi, who was nominated to be the FMCSA’s seventh administrator by President Joe Biden in January and breezed through her confirmation hearing in September, announced on Monday she would be going back to her home state after being named one of five New York City...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-administrator-doesnt-anyone-want-this-job

US senator proposes $125M in grants to reroute container ships

Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have introduced legislation aimed at compensating vessel owners that want to divert ships from the U.S. West Coast to less-congested Gulf and East Coast ports.

The Supply Chain Emergency Response Act, introduced this week by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., redirects $125 million of unspent money from the CARES Act to help owners of vessels currently anchored off the U.S. West Coast to transit through the Panama Canal and dock at...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-senator-proposes-125m-in-grants-to-reroute-container-ships