Trump turns to Republican veteran operative Chao as Transportation Secretary

After calling the nation’s infrastructure akin to that of a “Third World country” during his campaign, the task of actually rebuilding that failing system of roads and bridges falls now to soon-to-be President Donald J. Trump.

Control of how to spend the $1 trillion that President-elect Trump promised to spend on infrastructure during his campaign will fall largely on a veteran Republican operative with the closest possible ties to the Republican leadership of the Senate, Mitch McConnell.

According to widespread media reports, Elaine Chao, 63, who was deputy Transportation Secretary under George H.W. Bush and served all eight years in the cabinet of George W. Bush as the first Asian-American woman appointed to a cabinet post, is Trump’s choice as Transportation Secretary. She was Labor Secretary under the younger Bush.

If Sen. McConnell has anything to say about it, Chao should have the easiest path to confirmation by the Senate. Chao, after all, is married to Sen. McConnell, R-Ky.

A Harvard Business School graduate, Chao enters the cabinet by way of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington whose influence in policy matters has grown in recent years. She also is a board member of Wells Fargo, Dole Food, and News Corp., parent of the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the Chao selection.

In 2009, she returned to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, as a distinguished fellow and joined several corporate and nonprofit boards, including Wells Fargo, Dole Food Co. and the National World War II Museum. She also is a board member of News Corp., the owner of The Wall Street Journal.

The leaking of Chao’s name was met with applause by trucking interests who are eager to capitalize on candidate Trump’s promise to rebuild the nation’s sagging infrastructure.

“I had the privilege of serving with and working closely with Secretary Chao during my time at the Department of Labor, and I am extremely pleased that she will be taking on this new challenge,” American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear said. “President-elect Trump could not have picked a more qualified, experienced and dedicated individual to serve in this important role. From her experience as Deputy Transportation Secretary under President George H.W. Bush, Secretary Chao understands the issues we face as we try to keep America’s freight moving safely and efficiently,” he said. “We are eager to support her as our country and our industry work to improve our roads and bridges, improve safety, and harness the potential that emerging technologies have to continue to move our country forward.”

As with virtually everything else in Trump’s unorthodox campaign and transition, rebuilding infrastructure will not be done through traditional means.

Instead, this will likely be done through expanded tax incentives for private development rather than through traditional means such as the recently passed $305 billion, five-year federal aid-highway bill that passed last year.

The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that infrastructure spending consumed 2.4 percent of the nation’s $17 trillion Gross Domestic Product. That is slightly lower than the 2.6 percent share of GDP that infrastructure spending has consumed on average since President Dwight D. Eisenhower began the Interstate Highway System in 1956.

“Elaine Chao is experienced in the ways of Washington and is going to come at things from a pragmatic perspective,” said Mike Regan, chief relationship officer for TranzAct Technologies. “When Norm Mineta was in the role, we saw the value of how someone who understood how the political process worked. Under the Obama Administration, you were dealing with people that were well-intentioned like Ray LaHood, but he was more intent on pleasing a political agenda than he was for pushing through meaningful and substantial legislation on infrastructure issues. I think Chao is a solid choice.”

Regan also observed that it will be interesting to see whom Chao selects as the next Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

In addition to infrastructure, the Taiwan-born Chao is tasked with in managing an unprecedented air-bag safety crisis involving more than 50 million vehicles involving Japan-based Tanaka Corp. Also on the passenger side, General Motors is recalling millions of older vehicles with defective ignition switches linked to more than 100 deaths.

Group News Editor Jeff Berman contributed to this report.