WASHINGTON (AP) – Pete Buttigieg He had been on the job for a few weeks as a transport secretary, buried in meetings and preparing for the launch of President Joe Biden’s $ 2.3 trillion public works plan, when the night came and it was time to try something new. in Washington.
Instead of climbing into the back seat of a black SUV like most desk desks, he headed for a shared bike rack. With his helmet on and some Secret Service agents flanking it, he rode the long drive home to the Capitol neighborhood.
It was not a single feat. On Thursday, Buttigieg arrived at the White House for an office meeting in his two-wheeler. And that was not his only “normal guy” moment. Dog park devotees in the District of Columbia also saw him there, talking to anyone from children to members of Congress, such as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y.
Buttigieg first had his eye on the work of the man who is now his boss, Biden. Buttigieg presidential campaign had a surprising success – he essentially tied first with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the Iowa caucuses and finished second behind him in the New Hampshire primaries – and he made a strong impression as someone who represented the future of the Democratic Party .
Now, the man known during his campaign as “Mayor Pete” – he was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana – faces the first test of his potential in his first job in Washington: leading a cabinet department with an annual budget of $ 75 billion and a mandate to help propel an infrastructure program that Biden compared to the construction of the interstate highway system in the 1950s.
He will have to navigate the complicated policy of a bureaucracy entrenched in the Department of Transportation and the charged policy of a bitterly divided Washington.
He may have found a way just by riding a bicycle, which won fans even from skeptics in Congress.
“You have to keep your head up,” Buttigieg told the Associated Press, explaining the path and potential dangers posed by unaccustomed drivers, but he said it could be a much faster journey from point A to B.
Biden on Thursday commissioned Buttigieg and four other cabinet members – the “Employment Office” – to sell the administration’s infrastructure and the climate plan, a flood of money for roads, bridges, airports, broadband communications, water and electric cars.
But the plan has already hit the wall with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Who opposes the corporate tax hikes that Biden says he will pay for the plan and pledges to oppose it “at every step. the way. ” On the other hand, deputy Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., The president of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, says that the package should be significantly larger.
As daunting as it may seem, the challenge of helping to build consensus fits the ambition of the man who had the audacity to run for president as mayor of a medium-sized city in Indiana. When Biden selected the soft-spoken naval reserve veteran for the transport post, he praised him for offering “a new voice with new ideas, determined to overcome old politics.”
In an interview, Buttigieg said he believed bipartisan consensus was achievable.
Joining Buttigieg in the sale of the plan are Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
“I’ve had enough conversations, especially one-on-one conversations with members on both sides of the aisle, to know that there is a real interest in doing this,” Buttigieg told AP. “Now politics can get in the way of that, of course. But I think that, unlike many other issues where there is a deep, deeply felt and passionate disagreement about what to do, here there is a really healthy overlap in terms of our ideas about what should happen, even if there is a lot of difference in how to stop. get there. “
Translation? Republicans also like quiet roads and fast Internet for their voters. But so far, there is no indication that Republicans share his position.
The proposal offers big bets for Buttigieg in the department, where he pledges to promote public transport and other green alternatives for cars that consume gasoline and apply a “fairness lens” to infrastructure projects.
“Black and brown neighborhoods were disproportionately divided by road projects or isolated by the lack of adequate traffic and transportation resources,” tweeted Buttigieg in December. Under Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, he said, “We will make correcting these mistakes an imperative.”
With just two months in office, Buttigieg met with two dozen members of the House and 13 senators and, in recent days, has accelerated this pace, talking to legislators from both parties every day.
Republicans describe the former McKinsey consultant as friendly and open-minded, even though they sometimes wonder about his actual level of influence in legislation.
Illinois Representative Rodney Davis, the top Republican on a major highway oversight panel, said he spoke to Buttigieg twice, once at a meeting with Biden and a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House. He called the conversations “very good”.
“I am very excited to be able to work with him,” said Davis, a cyclist in his rural district, who believes that the former mayor can bring a valuable perspective from the street level to fill holes and make congested streets easier.
“If he wants to take a walk to discuss bike lanes and public transport, I would very much like that,” he said.
Although he is the youngest member of the cabinet at 39, Buttigieg has a star power equaled by few others in the group. He demonstrated the ability to command media attention and use those moments – including during a series of memorable Fox News successes around the election – to influence the public, including those not always able to vote for Democrats.
He spoke at the popular SXSW conference in Texas, joined with Governor Ralph Northam, D-Va., To promote the expansion of rail passenger and tweeting with a frequency to a wider audience that comes close to rivaling Donald Trump when he was president. Buttigieg promotes traffic policy in her official and personal account, where she also expresses devotion to her husband, Chasten.
Buttigieg, who has two dogs, has been spotted in a neighborhood park with Ocasio-Cortez. A chance encounter, he said.
The new transport secretary had a recent stumbling block: he had to quickly return to a plan to charge drivers per kilometer they drove. It is a proposal that has some support among Republicans, but it may violate Biden’s campaign pledge not to raise taxes on people who earn less than $ 400,000.
Buttigieg impressed West Wing advisors with his work ethic and willingness to learn, and he quickly received approval to pursue a solid relationship with the media.
The president’s aides also have warm feelings towards the former mayor for his decision last spring to support Biden quickly after abandoning his own campaign, helping to speed up the end of the Democratic primary race. And Biden compared Buttigieg to his late son Beau, a powerful evocation that helped to consolidate his importance to the president.
Now tied to Biden’s agenda and performance, Buttigieg begins a phase that is likely to increase his portfolio of public services – and his life experience.
This phase accomplishes what some allies said Buttigieg needed, a next chapter, in addition to the story of the underdog of the wonder boy from the small midwestern town. Friends and advisers had long suggested that he leave South Bend and see more of the world than his 2014 seven-month detachment in Afghanistan would allow.
Buttigieg was also busy trying to run for president when he got married in June 2018 and when his father died six months later. During the campaign, he said that he and Chasten had hopes of becoming parents.
Asked about his desire to be a father, Buttigieg told the AP “we are still working on it”, before adding with a smile: “Stay tuned”.
As quickly as he got up, Buttigieg quickly halted his campaign in March 2020, before Biden’s rise in the primaries became clear. He knew when to leave. He’ll probably know when to come back, too, if he does.
“He has incredible political talent and skill,” said Mayor Nan Whaley of Dayton, Ohio, a longtime friend and supporter of the 2020 campaign. “But part of that talent and skill is having a really great political moment.”
In this respect, she sees his work in infrastructure not as “part of that grand plan for his next move”, but as a demonstration of his ability to focus on the task at hand.
Buttigieg and her husband were seen walking around the new neighborhood, Capitol Hill, where they live in a one-bedroom apartment, walking through craft stalls at Eastern Market to receive smiles from residents. Last weekend, they roamed the brick terraced houses and the blossoming cherry blossoms, greeting the neighbors with waves and allowing young children to pet their dogs. His one-eyed puggle called “Buddy”, adopted in late 2018, has become something of an Instagram star.
Buddy lingered while a little blonde girl ran and sat down to hug him while the other lab mix, Truman, was nearby.
“He loves the attention,” explained Chasten Buttigieg to the girl, a trait that Buddy acquired during the campaign.
Pete Buttigieg smiled as the girl said goodbye to the dog’s head, and the couple slowly made their way back towards the Capitol.
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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Calvin Woodward contributed to this report.