Senate confirms Buttigieg to head Transportation Dept.
Pete Buttigieg was confirmed Tuesday by the U.S. Senate in an 86 to 13 vote to head the U.S. Transportation Department.
A former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Buttigieg will now oversee aviation, highways, vehicles, pipelines and transit, as well as efforts to ensure safe transportation in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He will also be the first openly gay Senate-confirmed Cabinet secretary.
Buttigieg first hit the national scene as a Democratic presidential candidate in the 2020 election. He narrowly won the Iowa caucuses, but dropped out of the race following the South Carolina primary.
On Twitter Tuesday, now-Secretary Buttigieg wrote that he was "honored and humbled by today's vote in the Senate—and ready to get to work @USDOT."
