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LaHood laments GOP high-speed rail opposition in exit interview
Outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood criticized Republicans in Congress for opposing President Obama’s high-speed rail initiatives in an interview conducted after he announced his retirement.
LaHood said on Tuesday that he would not serve a second term in Obama’s Cabinet, a widely expected announcement that set off a scramble to guess who would succeed him at the Transportation Department.
In an interview with the Huffington Post website after the announcement, LaHood said the U.S. has not invested enough in high-speed rail development because the Obama administration’s efforts have been stymied by congressional Republicans.
"Look, we are behind on high-speed rail," LaHood said, though he added that he was confident his eventual successor would continue pushing for rail funding.
"Because of the president's vision and because of the work of those of us here at DOT, we have come a long way,” he said of the state of high-speed rail development as he is leaving office. “As long as President Obama is in the White House, whoever sits in this chair will have high-speed rail as one of their top priorities."
LaHood said Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) rejection of the money was particularly galling.
The Obama administration had offered more money to Florida than any other state aside from California for a high-speed railway between Tampa and Orlando it hoped would be a centerpiece of a nationwide network of trains. The amount of money rejected by Scott was $2.4 billion, or 90 percent of the estimated construction costs for the long-sought central Florida railway.
Scott argued shortly after taking office after the Tea Party-fueled 2010 election that the railway would not generate enough revenue to cover its operations once it was built.
LaHood said he still disagreed with Scott’s diagnosis as he prepares to leave the Department of Transportation.
"My thought was there is only one person in Florida who doesn't want this money," LaHood said of the Florida rejection. "He is a governor without a vision when it comes to transportation."
Pointing to a looming deficit in general road and transit funding, LaHood said his former Republican colleagues in Congress could use a transportation vision check, too.
“For the first time since people have been looking at infrastructure, America is behind," LaHood said. "We are behind other countries because other countries are making the investments that we used to make. We got a two-year [highway] bill because they could only find $109 billion. We need to do better and we need to make sure that America does not fall further behind when it comes to infrastructure."
LaHood, who was a Republican congressman from Illinois for 14 years, said he hoped GOP lawmakers would eventually come around.
"As members of Congress understand that the people are way, way ahead of them on this — they are way ahead of most members, certainly on the Republican side, when it comes to high-speed rail, or walking and biking paths, or livable, sustainable communities, green energy — the people are so far ahead of the politicians on this — eventually it will catch up with them," he said.
LaHood has said he will remain at the helm of the DOT until his successor is appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate.
