Quigley Questions Secretary Buttigieg on DOT Emergency Relief Fund

Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), Ranking Member on the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, questioned Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg during a subcommittee hearing on the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request. Quigley questioned Buttigieg about DOT’s Emergency Relief fund in light of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore.

Quigley’s questioning of Buttigieg is available HERE. 

Quigley’s opening remarks at the hearing can be viewed HERE and his remarks as prepared for delivery are below.

Thank you, Chairman. We had a strong bipartisan partnership during our time together as Chair and Ranking Members on the F-S-G-G subcommittee. I look forward to carrying that tradition forward on the T-HUD subcommittee.

Mr. Secretary, welcome back. You have been a great partner over the years and I appreciate your continued commitment to work with this Committee to strengthen our transportation networks.

Overall, the budget request dedicates nearly $109 billion to sustain our transportation networks and protect the safety of our transportation workers. This investment includes:

• Hiring 2,000 additional air traffic controllers to keep our skies and runways safe and efficient;
• $2.4 billion to expand bus and rapid transit to help everyday Americans travel to work, school and health appointments; and
• More than $3 billion to prevent collisions, improve worker safety, and perform signal and track upgrades on our rail systems.

These investments, combined with those made through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (or I-I-J-A), will ensure that whether it flies, floats, or rolls, advancements in the safety and modernization of our transportation can be made in this decade.

These targeted investments will help accelerate transportation safety, resiliency, and mobility improvements, while prioritizing lengthy and costly capital backlogs that propel the sophistication of America’s transportation networks. 

Yet and still, emergencies and unforeseen circumstances happen and this subcommittee should be prepared to help our Federal partners respond.

Ensuring agencies such as DOT have the resources and flexibility necessary to deploy and rapidly respond to accidents, near incursions or major catastrophes in real-time is vital.

We must continue to invest in solutions that create more resilient supply chain networks, workforce pipelines, and multimodal reliability. Revisiting the emergence of these needs each year through the annual appropriations process is critical.

I look forward to working with the Chairman and you, Mr. Secretary, in getting to a fiscal year 2025 agreement that adheres to the Fiscal Responsibility Act requirements, without compromising the future of America’s transportation systems.

I look forward to your testimony today.

I yield back the balance of my time.