Transportation secretary pick vows to buck any pressure to help Elon Musk in agency probes of Tesla
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s pick to head the Transportation Department promised Wednesday to scrutinize Boeing's safety issues, streamline regulations and not interfere in ongoing agency investigations into Elon Musk’s electric car company if confirmed as secretary.
Former Wisconsin congressman Sean Duffy said at his Senate confirmation hearing that he would “restore global confidence" in Boeing, hire more air traffic controllers and create federal rules for self-driving cars instead of leaving that to the states, something Musk's Tesla has been pushing for to help speed development of the technology.
But asked how he would handle ongoing investigations into Tesla, Duffy said he would allow the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to follow the evidence and not interfere — even in the face of political pressure to do so.
"I will let NHTSA do its investigation,” said Duffy, an ardent Trump backer in his first term in office, a reality TV star and Fox News host.
Duffy, 53, is hoping to take over the Department of Transportation as the U.S. faces intense competition from other countries in electric cars and self-driving technology, in particular from China. That country came up several times during the hearing, as did Musk, the world's richest man with close ties to the president-elect who gave an estimated $250 million to Trump's presidential campaign.
“Without clear rules, or a patchwork of rules state by state, we put ourselves behind those countries that allow innovators to expand and grow," said Duffy, adding “We are in direct competition with China.”
“We are in a global race to out-innovate the rest of the world,” Duffy told members of Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
The massive transportation agency employs more than 55,000, spends tens of billions of dollars annually, oversees the nation's highways, railroads and airspace and sets safety standards for trains, cars and trucks.
The agency has opened probes into the safety of Tesla vehicles, especially what the company calls Full Self-Driving, a misnomer because the vehicles require human intervention at any moment. In October, NHTSA launched a probe Tesla's self-driving system covering 2.4 million vehicles after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian.
Duffy’s decisions at the transportation department will have a direct impact on profits not only at Tesla but Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, which has billions of dollars of contracts with federal agencies. The transportation department's Federal Aviation Administration has occasionally fined the company for violations, including $633,000 last year for alleged safety violations during two Florida launches.
At one point in the hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas brought up the fines, describing them as excessive and unnecessary and asking Duffy what he would do about them.
“I commit to doing a review and working with you and following up on the space launches,” Duffy said.
If confirmed, Duffy would replace Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay Cabinet member.
Duffy served as co-host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business until leaving the network in November.
He won a House seat as part of wave of Tea Party victories in 2010 after a campaign where he could be seen in a red flannel shirt chopping trees and telling voters he came from a “long line of lumberjacks " and would bring his axe to Washington.
He resigned from Congress in 2019, citing a need to care for his nine children.
A former lumberjack athlete, Duffy met his wife on the set of MTV’s “Road Rules: All Stars” in 1998. His wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, is co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend.
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