Last month, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg answered questions on the Second Ave Subway Project during a House Appropriations Committee hearing.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you.
00:01I yield back.
00:02Mr. Espaillat.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Secretary.
00:05Thank you.
00:06First, I want to thank you for your recent compensation program for flights delay and
00:13cancel and the dashboard page that you have available for consumers.
00:18I think it's important that we help consumers as delays and cancellations continue to occur.
00:29Thank you for that.
00:30I also obviously want to thank you, express my sincerity, for including $496 million in
00:39the proposed funding for Second Avenue subway.
00:43Thank you for coming to Harlem.
00:45That's an important project that will obviously connect Harlem to the rest of the world.
00:52I also want to stress to my colleagues in the committee that this also provides a social
00:59equity component that I think is so important to the communities that we represent, those
01:05that have been left behind for far too long, and that need for these projects not just
01:10to be a transportation project for a transportation desert, but an economic stimulus for the communities
01:18that we serve.
01:20Thank you for your vision and the President's vision for this particular model.
01:27Given the complex nature of urban subway expansions, what measures are being implemented to ensure
01:34that Second Avenue subway phase two remains on schedule and within budget?
01:43Thank you for your ongoing support for this effort.
01:47It was an absolute joy and one of the highlights of my time here to be able to celebrate that
01:53signature with people who had been waiting for so long in the case of the Second Avenue
01:58subway and finally seeing that funding.
02:01Now all eyes are on delivery, and that means making sure that we maintain a tight cadence
02:07of interaction and collaboration with MTA and all the players involved in that.
02:12We're doing that through our Federal Transit Administration, but this is also a big enough
02:15project that is being tracked at an agency-wide level, too.
02:20We know that hurdles and issues can come up.
02:22We stand committed to working through any of those to make sure that this is delivered
02:28now that the funding is in place, because the people of those Harlem communities and
02:33really that whole part of New York that has served up to 125th Street deserve finally
02:41seeing that project through after having waited literally for decades in order to see it become
02:45real.
02:46Well, I hope the subway leaves the station fairly soon, Mr. Secretary.
02:51But I have another question.
02:53As you know, I represent a district that has a significant number of Dominican-Americans,
02:59and as you know, the Department of State and the government of the Dominican Republic are
03:04in final talks for a long-anticipated modern U.S.-DR open skies agreement.
03:12The cost of flying back home for many of these families is exuberant.
03:17When they go visit their families back home, sometimes they have to pay $1,500, $2,000.
03:24So a family of four is going to have a difficult time going back home.
03:28And I want to know, given the evolving dynamics of international air travel, what strategies
03:35are in place to ensure the effective implementation of the modernized U.S.-DR open skies agreement?
03:42Thank you.
03:43I know how important this is, especially to Dominican communities in the U.S. and to the
03:47Dominican Republic, and have had direct conversations with my counterparts from the Dominican Republic
03:52about the importance of this.
03:53Our department and our interagency partners at State and Commerce are all participating
03:59in these negotiations.
04:00We've been negotiating for some time.
04:02We're very encouraged by recent progress, though we're not there quite yet.
04:06And the real focus is to make sure that we can get to a good place while maintaining
04:12the essential elements of a U.S. open skies agreement and the policies that have helped
04:19to define that through us in our relationships with all of the countries where we have an
04:23air transport agreement.
04:24So we're looking forward to getting to a conclusion on a modernized agreement for what is the
04:29largest Caribbean market for U.S. travelers, and open skies would certainly further facilitate
04:34travel and tourism by promoting competition and, we think, creating more affordable options
04:39for travelers.
04:40Thank you.
04:41And finally, could you elaborate how the Federal Highway Administration investment will help
04:45to advance environmental restoration and cleanup within our nation's highways?
04:51Yes.
04:52Thank you.
04:53Often there is a brownfield element to some of the grants that we are pursuing, including
04:58Federal Highways.
05:00That's one of the things that, pursuant to our statutory authority, can help a project
05:04to score well in discretionary programs, and we certainly value chances to work with project
05:10sponsors to make sure that cleanups are, where required, part of the benefit of a transportation
05:17project for the future.
05:18Thank you.
05:19Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
05:20Thank you.
05:21Mr. Suscomani.
05:22Thank you, Chairman, and glad to see you in this committee as well.
05:26I know you've been serving for a while.
05:27It was great serving with you on FSG.