Transport secretary Sean Duffy welcomes the members of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee before hearing the committee about the budget application of the White House 2026 on July 16, 2025 (Photo by Jacob Fischler/States Newsroom)
Washington – The US Transport Minister Sean Duffy asked the patience of democratic and republican members of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, who has asked for the deficit of approved grants that the department has not yet paid to state and local governments.
Duffy said in his first appearance before the committee that the traffic department of former President Joe Biden approved an unprecedented 3,200 grants between the election day 2024 and the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January 2025. Duffy informed the committee that his department had worked to send the remaining 1,300 grants, but that the task would take time.
He added that his hope was to complete the evaluation until delayed summer or early autumn.
“We have 3,200 grants – this is a historical number – from the last government,” he said in response to a question from the ranked democrat Rick Larsen from Washington. “I know that you want all of your grants, but I don’t think everyone can see the workload that has been left to us.”
Duffy also promoted the inclusion of the Republicans of 12.5 billion US dollars to revise the nation’s air traffic control system, and called it a “down payment” for a need of $ 31.5 billion. He asked Congress to finance the remaining 19 billion US dollars.
The air traffic control system has been aiming for reforms and technical upgrades for years. The renewed urgency this year came after a fatal crash near the Washington Reagan National Airport in North Virginia during the first full day of Duffy.
“Leave the building jobs on the table”
Larsen pressed Duffy on the delayed grants, and several members of both parties also asked about the status of grants for projects in their districts.
“I ask you to continue checking the rest of these grants because we leave construction jobs on the table without these subsidies going out of the door,” said Larsen. “The stops of these grants provide the stands urgently needed vocational training, building investments and we have to make them.”
Duffy said that the department had completed more grants in the first three months of the year than earlier administrations in the same period, but admitted that members of congress and state transport departments still wanted a faster movement.
“I know that’s not enough for everyone,” he said. “Everyone now wants their grants, and that’s why we are working hard to do it as soon as possible.”
Some Democrats also complained about seven grants that had been canceled immediately. Six of the seven were in democratic states, said California Democrat John Garamendi. The seventh was a grant to the university of New Orleans, he said.
The projects seemed to be targeted because their titles contained words in terms of diversity, justice and inclusion, said Garamendi.
Duffy said these grants had deviated from the priorities of the department, for example the reduction in 40,000 traffic deaths per year.
“The racist stuff instead of protecting people is my journey,” said Duffy.
Modernization of air traffic control
Duffy found that many members of the committee did not vote for the Reconciliation Act, which extended the 2017 tax reductions while lowering the expenditure for medical and nutritional programs. No democrats voted for the law.
But he said he thought everyone in the committee had supported the 12.5 billion US dollars for air traffic control.
The chairman Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican, praised the care.
“With this financing, the administration can immediately work to replace critical telecommunications infrastructure and radar systems, to invest in projects for monitoring the landingways and in the airport monitoring projects and to replace antiquated airline systems,” said Graves.
This initial payment would not be sufficient for the total requirement of the system, said Duffy.
“We will need more money from the congress than this 12.5 billion US dollars,” he said. “We will need more to do it. No insult to nobody, but the way in which congress spends money we speak to 31.5 billion US dollars to carry out the full project. And I hope that we will have an additional conversation about how we can do it. And I think the time is of crucial importance.”
Electric vehicles
Democrats said they wanted the financing that wanted to restore the 2021 infrastructure law for electric vehicles or EV, chargers.
The Republicans said that money could be better spent on other priorities, such as: Dedicated parking spaces for truckers, A problem addressed by Rep. Rick Crawford from Arkansas. Crawford, a former chairman of the motorways and the body’s transit committee, welcomed the recent step of the department Remove 275 million US dollars for parking trucks.
“Our nation was and is still not at a point where the quick rollouts of the charging infrastructure are an urgent problem,” said Crawford. “In contrast, our truck industry is certainly not in a position in which the transition to electrification is a priority, but we need parking spaces.”
Duffy informed the committee that the rules of the bid administration for the construction of EV fees were part of the reason why relatively few chargers for electric vehicles were built. He informed the Republican Wisconsin Tony Wied and the New Hampshire Democrat Chris Pappas that the requirements of previous administration delayed construction with regard to social justice and climate requirements for contracts.
“There were so many rules about how the money could be spent on, and it was dirty with ideas from Dei and all the green work, which made it really difficult for states,” he said.
Duffy, a former house member from Wisconsin, said that he would carry out laws that are passed by the congress, including the financing of the EV rank, even though he does not agree. But he also said that he supported Trump’s attempt to revoke the financing.
Pappas said Duffy that his state was ready for the fresh guidelines.
“We are ready to put shovels in the ground in New Hampshire,” said Pappas.
