Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) has apparently accepted Obama’s offer to be his Secretary of Transportation.
LaHood, 63, has served in the House since 1995, and is retiring after his year. For more on his (not very lengthy) transit record, see Adam Doster at Progress Illinois:
So what can we glean about LaHood’s record on this issue? The moderate Republican has broken with his party over Amtrak funding, voting yes last summer to expand passenger rail service. In 2005, he told the Peoria Journal-Star that “we’ve got a good Amtrak system in Illinois and I don’t think we want to destroy it by talking about privatization.” In 2006, he received a 66 percent rating from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, a major transportation construction lobby. He also voted in favor of the Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act of 2008, a bill to promote increased public transportation use that garnered string bi-partisan support. Other than that, we know very little.
The announcement is expected to be made official later this week. We’ll cover reactions to the pick as they come in.
