Trump Cabinet member Chao on tenure at Transportation: ‘We tried our best’

Former Trump administration Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has few regrets serving as the head of the agency despite mixed results on the administration’s agenda.

Ms. Chao reflected on her time serving as transportation secretary and her interest in the future of technology and infrastructure in an interview with The Washington Times.

“Surely, there were things that we could have done differently,” Ms. Chao said. “But I think we tried our best. We worked very hard. We all felt it was a  privilege to serve our country and to serve the American people.”

Ms. Chao said her focus at the agency was on prioritizing safety issues, preparing for the future of transportation and shifting more infrastructure investment into rural communities.

The former secretary also described the Biden administration’s approach to the agency as being “very different” from hers, highlighting priorities such as climate change and social equity being touted in the bipartisan infrastructure bill recently passed by the Senate, where Ms. Chao’s husband, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, is the Republican minority leader.

Ms. Chao said that much of the bill went to social welfare programs over traditional infrastructure such as building roads and bridges.

“Seventy percent of that was for social welfare programs,” Ms. Chao said. “Equity and climate change is obviously a huge part of their concern. So, what we are seeing is a tremendous amount of new taxes being potentially levied and tremendous increases in new regulation.”

Ms. Chao, however, had nothing negative to say about her successor at Transportation, Pete Buttigieg.

“I hope he enjoys his job,” Ms. Chao said. “It’s a wonderful privilege to be able to serve our country and lead a department as important as the Department of Transportation.”