Elaine Chao confirmed as US Secretary of Transportation
The US Senate has confirmed the appointment of Elaine Chao as the new US Secretary of Transportation. At her confirmation vote yesterday (31 January), Chao cleared the 60-vote threshold easily, with 93 votes for and 6 against.
A notice posted on the Department of Transportation (DOT) website briefing room yesterday said: “Elaine L. Chao served as the 24th U. S. Secretary of Labor from 2001-2009 and is the first Asian American woman to be appointed to a President’s Cabinet in American history.”
The notice continued: “As Secretary of Labor, she focused on increasing the competitiveness of America’s workforce in a global economy and achieved record results in workplace safety and health.
“Prior to the Department of Labor, Secretary Chao was President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of America, where she restored public trust and confidence in one of America’s premier institutions of private charitable giving after it had been tarnished by financial mismanagement and abuse. As director of the Peace Corps, she established the first programs in the Baltic nations and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.
“Her government service also includes serving as Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, Deputy Maritime Administrator at the U. S. Department of Transportation, and White House Fellow specializing in transportation and trade in the Office of Policy Development. She has also worked in the private sector as Vice President of Syndications at Bank of America and transportation banker at Citicorp.”
President Donald Trump’s proposed trillion-dollar investment plan for US infrastructure guarantees that Chao’s leadership of the DOT will be very much in the media spotlight. Chao’s previous stints at the DOT and the FMC means that she will already well-known in transportation circles – indeed, the DOT notice announcing her confirmation yesterday was headed “A Homecoming”.
