From the Office of U.S. Senator Dick Durbin
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today introduced President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Transportation, former Representative Ray LaHood, to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
“President-Elect Obama and I have worked with Ray in Illinois and we’ve been impressed – not just with the relationships he’s built, but also with his competence and his leadership. The President-Elect has chosen the right man for the job,” said Durbin. “Ray has built a long record strengthening Illinois’ transportation system as whole – always with the goals of improving safety, relieving congestion, generating economic activity and protecting the environment. I believe we will all benefit from his record if he is confirmed.”
Text of Durbin’s remarks as prepared:
Thank you for this opportunity to introduce my friend and former colleague Ray LaHood, who has been nominated to serve as the 16th Secretary of Transportation.
Born and bred in Peoria, Illinois, Ray has continued the tradition of those who have served before him in the House of Representatives.
The 18th district was home to Everett Dirksen, Bob Michel and a rather famous one-term Member from Illinois -- Abraham Lincoln.
Ray, like those famous Members, contributed to a higher level of civility, decorum, and bipartisanship in the House of Representatives.
He founded the Congressional Bipartisan Retreat to help Members and their families get to know each other outside of the rough and tumble debates of the House floor.
Back in Illinois, Ray has regularly convened bipartisan meetings with the area's state representatives, mayors and other elected officials.
His dedication to his District and his service in the House has earned him a reputation as one of the most respected Members to have served in the House of Representatives.
President-Elect Obama and I have worked with Ray in Illinois and we’ve been impressed – not just with the relationships he’s built, but also with his competence and his leadership.
The President-Elect has chosen the right man for the job.
Ray has always led on transportation issues within the Illinois delegation.
The steel, iron and steam of the earliest railroads and trains cemented Illinois’ place as the transportation hub of North America.
Ray made it his mission to improve passenger and freight rail operations in Illinois.
Ray understands that transportation is not a rural vs. urban issue.
Illinois is sometimes characterized as a divided state, with Chicago in the North and the rest considered “downstate.” Ray never fell for that. He’s worked on the premise that rural transportation networks are part of and rely on metropolitan transportation networks.
He has helped move passengers and freight from the prairies surrounding Peoria, through the bustling downtown of Chicago, all the way down to the river towns of Southern Illinois.
Ray has built a long record strengthening Illinois’ transportation system as whole – always with the goals of improving safety, relieving congestion, generating economic activity and protecting the environment. I believe we will all benefit from his record if he is confirmed.
The next Secretary will confront some significant policy and programmatic challenges.
First, the economic crisis compels the new Administration and the Congress to work together and to act quickly.
Transportation infrastructure will be the backbone of our economic recovery, and the next Secretary will help shape and implement a plan to upgrade our roads, rails, and airports.
Second, the aviation industry is struggling.
The aviation industry was nearly crippled this summer by the rising price of jet fuel. The Aviation industry has cut over 30,000 jobs and left many communities across the country without any commercial air service whatsoever.
Lastly, the next Secretary will shepherd in the next reauthorization of our surface transportation laws. This reauthorization has the potential to fundamentally change the way our national transportation system relates to climate change and our dependence on foreign oil.
All of these issues call for a leader with the integrity and character to reach out to a diverse group of stakeholders and reach consensus.
A former DOT official was recently quoted as saying, “the most important part of the DOT Secretary’s job is knowing how to work with other people.”
Ray LaHood has the most important part of the job covered. And I am pleased and proud as a fellow Illinoisan to wholeheartedly recommend and encourage the confirmation of our friend Ray LaHood. Thank you very much.
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