U.S. Senate confirms Buttigieg to head Transportation Department

Posted on February 2, 2021

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senate panel holds hearing for transportation nominee

Pete Buttigieg, U.S. secretary of transportation nominee for U.S. President Joe Biden, listens during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, U.S., January 21, 2021.

Stefani Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

By David Shepardson, Reuters

Pete Buttigieg, a former mayor who challenged Joe Biden for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday on a 86-13 vote to head the U.S. Transportation Department.

Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, will oversee aviation, highways, vehicles, pipelines and transit, as well as efforts to ensure safe transportation in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also the first openly gay Senate-confirmed Cabinet secretary.