Sean Duffy
Announced as Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Transportation
Sean Duffy is a Fox Business host, lobbyist for the Partnership for Open and Fair Skies (a coalition of major domestic airlines), former Republican congressman from Wisconsin, and former MTV reality show star. In November, Trump announced Duffy would be his pick for Secretary of Transportation.
Duffy announced his resignation from Congress in 2019 and joined lobbying firm BGR group as the co-head of the financial services practice. At BGR, Duffy lobbied for a number of financial services firms as well as The Partnership for Open and Fair Skies. As Accountable.US reported:* “In February 2020, The Partnership for Open and Fair Skies hired Sean Duffy and three other BGR lobbyists to lobby in ‘support for US Open Skies policy.’ The Partnership for Open and Fair Skies’ membership includes American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines, which all joined in a May 2024 lawsuit alongside industry trade group Airlines for America against the Biden Department of Transportation’s rulemaking to ‘protect airline passengers from surprise junk fees when purchasing a ticket.’” Accountable.US “previously found that the group and six of its major airline members spent over $26 million while lobbying against the Biden Department of Transportation’s (DOT) efforts to rein in airline junk fees after taking over $40 billion in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 aid.” *
While on FOX, Duffy has blamed DEI for recent incidents with Boeing planes, has suggested the “left” should make room for “alternative science” related to climate change, and has routinely defended Trump. In December 2022, Duffy criticized the Department of Transportation’s investigations into Southwest Airlines after the holiday travel meltdown, asserting, “Capitalism works …Southwest will fix this, [Secretary of Transportation] Pete Buttigieg never will.” Duffy is one of several of Trump’s cabinet picks hailing from the entertainment industry and also one of several corporate lobbyists.
While in Congress, Duffy, who did not serve on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, repeatedly voted to cut rail funding and in 2017 voted to effectively defund Amtrak completely. In 2011, Duffy voted for an amendment that, per its critics, would roll back key provisions of landmark safety legislation enacted in response to the crash of Continental Flight 3407.
Duffy also defended Trump on the House floor in 2019 regarding a resolution condemning “Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress.” After Duffy called the targets of Trump’s attacks “anti-American,” his colleague sought to have Duffy’s remarks taken down. In 2016, the Congressional Black Caucus considered seeking a formal condemnation of Duffy after he suggested the Caucus was “ignoring the impacts of abortion on minority communities.“
WHAT DOES PROJECT 2025 SAY ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
THE POLICIES
– Wind down the Highway Trust Fund, which provides funding for thousands of highway and public transportation projects each year.
– Give the Department of Transportation (DOT) priority over the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in setting vehicle-related carbon dioxide emission standards, and gut fuel economy standards, which, Project 2025 alleges, “have no meaningful effect on global temperature trends” and which “force the auto industry to transition to […] the production of EVs,” contrary to climate science and emissions data.
– Reject the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the airplane efficiency standards ICAO prescribes.
– Alter or eliminate the Cleaner Trucks Initiative to avoid what Project 2025 alleges are “significant costs” or “complex burdens on the industry.”
– Urge Congress to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
PRECEDING CONTEXT FOR PROJECT 2025
– Trump’s DOT consistently delayed infrastructure projects and transportation improvements, which caused bottlenecks in various supply chains and transportation networks.
– Trump’s DOT revoked a requirement that state and regional authorities track tailpipe emissions from vehicles on federal highways, using program costs of ~$1.67M per year as an excuse.
– The Trump administration weakened Obama-era fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for passenger cars and light trucks and froze civil penalties for companies that violate fuel efficiency standards.
– Trump also attempted to cut the Highway Trust Fund in his 2018 budget proposal.
HOW ARE PROJECT 2025’S POLICIES POSSIBLE?
– Repealing the Inflation Reduction Act would require legislation, but many of the Biden DOT policies can be rescinded via the rulemaking process (no congressional action needed).
– New deregulatory rules can be issued so long as the Trump Administration complies with the Administrative Procedure Act.