Obama nominates Charlotte Mayor Foxx to head DOT

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a confirmation hearing on transportation secretary nominee Anthony Foxx May 22, according to Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.).

President Obama announced April 29 Anthony Foxx as his nominee for the next Secretary of Transportation.

Foxx is currently the mayor of Charlotte, N.C, which he helped turn around since taking office in 2009. Both the city and country were going through a “bruising economic crisis,” President Obama said.

“The economy is growing. There are more jobs, more opportunity,” he said. “And if you ask Anthony how that happened, he’ll tell you that one of the reasons is that Charlotte made one of the largest investments in transportation in the city’s history.

“Since Anthony took office, they’ve broken ground on a new streetcar project that’s going to bring modern electric tram service to the downtown area. They’ve expanded the international airport. And they’re extending the city’s light rail system. All of that has not only helped create new jobs, it’s helped Charlotte become more attractive to business.”

The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) bus operation is manned by SMART Transportation Division operators and mechanics.

President Obama said that one of the best ways we can grow our economy and rebuild opportunity for the middle class is by putting more Americans back to work by investing in rebuilding our infrastructure.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama proposed a “Fix-It-First” program to put more people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs.

“We need to modernize the infrastructure that powers our economy. We need more high-speed rail, and Internet, and high-tech schools, and self-healing power grids, and bridges, and tunnels, and ports that help us ship products all around the world stamped with three proud words: Made in America. That’s how we’re going to attract more businesses. That’s how we’re going to create more jobs. That’s how we’re going to stay competitive in this global economy.”

President Obama also thanked current Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood for his hard work and dedication to public service.

“Over the past four years, thanks to Ray’s leadership, we’ve built or improved more than 350,000 miles of road — enough to circle the world more than 14 times. We’ve upgraded more than 6,000 miles of rail — enough to go coast to coast and back. We’ve repaired or replaced more than 20,000 bridges, and helped put tens of thousands of construction workers back on the job.

“He is a good man, and has been an outstanding public servant and a model for the kind of bipartisan approach to governance that I think we need so badly in this town,” President Obama said.

Foxx’s transportation credentials include his push for expanding the city’s LYNX streetcar to UNC-Charlotte, creating the Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility that transfers cargo between trucks and trains, and building a new runway at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

Foxx was born on April 30, 1971, in Charlotte. He was first elected to the Charlotte City Council in 2005, and was elected mayor on November 3, 2009, winning 51.5 percentof the vote and defeating his City Council colleague, Republican John Lassiter. He won a second term on November 8, 2011, winning more than two-thirds of the vote against Republican Scott Stone.