The Senate confirmed Polly Trottenberg as deputy transportation secretary Tuesday, installing the veteran official, who most recently ran New York City’s transportation department, into the federal agency’s No. 2 spot. The vote was 82 to 15.
Trottenberg, who previously served at the department as a senior official during the Obama administration, returns to the federal government at a time when President Biden is proposing to significantly increase spending on transportation with a $600 billion infusion. Beyond repairing roads and bridges, Buttigieg is seeking to make the environment and racial justice priorities.
“As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, we face a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve our transportation system and ensure that it equitably serves all Americans and communities both large and small,” Trottenberg said during her confirmation hearing in March.
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., has emerged as a high-profile spokesman for the Biden administration, regularly appearing on television to market its policies. But much of the department’s work his highly technical, and Buttigieg has limited transportation experience. Trottenberg’s confirmation could help plug any gaps.
As transportation commissioner in New York since 2014, Trottenberg was responsible for a multibillion-dollar agency with thousands of employees. She touted that experience during her confirmation hearing, highlighting work on traffic safety as the champion of the city’s Vision Zero campaign to eliminate road deaths and efforts on bus service and cycling routes that also are priorities for the federal government.
The White House is gradually filling out its leadership team at the Transportation Department.
On Monday, Biden submitted the nominations of three officials to the Senate, including Nuria Fernandez to serve as the leader of the Federal Transit Administration. Fernandez previously was the leader of a transit agency in Silicon Valley.
