WEBVTT - INTERVIEW: Pete Buttigieg Talks 2nd Ave Subway Project, Electric Vehicles, Derailments, Christian Values + More 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:05.080 Wake that ass up in the morning the Breakfast Club Morning. 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:08.760 Everybody is dj n V Charlemagne to God. We are 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:11.400 to Breakfast Club. Angel RII is with us as well, 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:14.000 and we have a special guess in the building, the 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.440 US Secretary of Transportation. 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:19.280 Pete Boody Judge. Welcome back. Thank you, Secretary Pie, it's 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:19.880 good to be back. 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:20.920 Good news here. 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:23.119 Before you came in, I was talking about Secretary Pete 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:25.759 about his cars, and you were saying that I see 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:28.720 some way that he likes the new Mustang, the electric Mustang, 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:30.480 and that you They said you were in it. 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:32.720 Yeah, because I thought we should practice what we preached. 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.879 We're encouraging electric vehicles, and I thought we ought to 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:38.919 do that too. So our security detail we had them 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.720 get a Mustang Mochi, which is how I usually get 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.040 around when I'm in Washington, and it's great. My favorite 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.360 part is when they took delivery of it. Part of 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:48.839 what standard. You know, they get the keys, they get 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:50.680 the paperwork, and then they get a gas card for 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.880 buying gas, you know, to reimburse that. And they're never 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:55.920 going to need that because it doesn't need any gas. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.480 Electric taxpayers will never have to pay for a drop 0:00:58.480 --> 0:00:59.520 a gas going into that car. 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.400 Question, does the Secretary of Transportation have to pay for transportation? 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:03.880 Do you get free calls and stuff like that? 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:07.320 Sure, it depends. So if I'm on personal travel then 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:10.440 then yeah, obviously that's that's out of my pocket. If 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.240 it's work travel or if there's you know, security you 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.600 need to get around, then it's a little different. But yeah, 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.120 I mean usually you know, you get free calls. I 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.600 do not get free cars. No, Like I've like, we 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:23.560 got a minivan that that you know, if I'm dropping 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:25.800 the kids off daycare, that's just our our family car. 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:27.000 You know we got I never thought I'd be a 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:31.600 minivan guy, and then you got kids. We very much. 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.080 It's actually great. Yeah, And it's it's a plug in 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:36.720 that one plugs in too, so you can it's a hybrid, 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:38.880 so you plug it in, you get maybe thirty forty 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:41.480 miles off of the electric and if you go any 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:43.080 further than that, like if we're on a road trip, 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:43.959 then it switches to game. 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:45.600 You can get a cooler car. You can get like 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.400 an electric escalade or something. You got the electric suv. 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:51.160 You don't have to drive a menis that out? Act 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:52.360 like you're from Indiana all your life. 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:54.920 Now I'm literally from Indiana and I'm literally a dad. 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.760 We're Midwestern dads. I got two kids. I never thought 0:01:57.760 --> 0:01:59.640 i'd be a minivan guy, but I gotta say it's 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:01.000 kind of that's kind of the right answer for us 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:01.320 right now. 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:03.560 I'm meant to ask this before we get jump into it. 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:05.920 When you talk about the electric grid, right when it 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.959 comes to all these electric CAUs they're hopefully focusing I 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:11.640 guess in the next five years they want all calls 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:14.480 to turn over to electric. Do we have a strong 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.639 enough grid to hold all those electric cars and all 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.120 the electric battery cause and everything that we need, and 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:22.480 also when people are driving from state to state, is 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:24.520 enough to make sure that these people won't run out 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:26.200 of electric and be on the side of the roads. 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:30.280 Right, So the honest answer is we cannot run tomorrow's 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:32.679 cars on today's grid. But the other part of the 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:34.560 answer is that's why we're upgrading the grid and the 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:37.160 chargers so presidence goes. By the end of this decade, 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.639 we want half of new car sales to be electric. 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:42.200 We think we can get there. It's not for everybody. 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.919 It's not for everybody. Overnight prices still need to come down, 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:46.280 but we think we can get to half by the 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:48.240 end of the decade. We also have to have about 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:50.200 half a million chargers around the country by the end 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.520 of the decade, and we're funding that. Part of what 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.799 was in the President's Infrastructure Law is about seven and 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:57.920 a half billion dollars that we're using to really do 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:00.560 two things. One is where you're talking about, where you 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:01.880 go out on a road trip, you know there's going 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:03.320 to be a gas station. We got to make sure 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:04.480 when you go on a road trip, you know there's 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:06.919 going to be a charging station. But the other piece 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:09.040 is we got to make sure there's community charging. So 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.040 if you live in a single family home where you 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:13.839 got a garage, then it's easy. You can just plug 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:15.400 in your wall. At our house in Michigan, we just 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.519 plug it in a regular wallplug. But if you're in 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.600 an apartment building, if you're in a dense area, and 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.400 especially if you're in a low or middle income area, 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.760 then it might not yet be profitable for companies to 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:30.320 put in chargers. So we've got to make sure that 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:33.000 we accelerate that process, put a little incentive in to 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:35.480 make the economics move in the right direction so that 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:39.040 everybody has access because then they have a chance at 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:40.960 the savings that come from not having to buy gas. 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.080 So it's definitely a process the grid has to be 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.920 upgraded to. But remember it's also complicated and expensive to 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:50.400 move millions and millions and millions of gallons of liquid 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.240 fuel around this country every day. At the end of 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.600 the day, in the long run, it's more efficient to 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:59.240 move electrons through a so to speak, through transmission lines 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.080 than it is to move liquids around. But you know 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:03.480 this is not going to happen overnight. It's going to 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.680 be years. We're underway, we're working out. 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:11.400 I have to one questions before we jump inc the 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.080 electric cost stuff, because this is something that I'm into. 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:18.080 They say that those batteries are just as bad. 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.640 For the environment as gasoline and fuel. Is Is that true? 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.560 No? But there are issues with them, uh, And a 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:26.200 lot of the issues have to do with how the 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:28.840 materials that go into them are extracted. So we've got 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:32.200 to make sure that they are extracted under good labor 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.920 conditions and their mind appropriately. We're trying to get more 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.479 of that done in the US. Under the Trump administration, 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:39.800 they didn't care a lot about electric vehicles. As you know, 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:44.000 China got an edge, and China does not care about 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:47.720 things like mining, environmental conditions, or child labor, any of 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.440 those other issues. We do. And so we're working to 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.320 make sure that we get more of these things sourced domestically. 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:55.520 But it's a different set of problems, so that those 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.760 are issues we take them seriously. But the problem with 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:03.159 burning regular gas is it's causing the climate to change. 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:05.920 That's not the problem that they were worried about on 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.320 when it comes to batteries. Climate change is getting faster, 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.520 it's getting worse. Is real. People can pretend otherwise, and 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:13.240 I know there's a lot of oil and gas profits 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.920 to be protected by pretending otherwise. It's just it's just true. 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:19.400 We can see it all around us. And the biggest 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:22.120 part of the US economy. Of all these sectors of 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.440 the economy, the one that puts the most carbon pollution 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.920 into the air is transportation. So to me is transportation sector. 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:30.080 That means our goal has to be to try to 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:32.279 be the biggest part of the solution, and part of 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:35.560 that is cars, and big part of that is going electric. 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.920 Last question I had was Elon Musk was very mad 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:40.920 at you guys. Right, they said that he was giving 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.400 you guys the middle finger, that he wanted some tax rebates, 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:45.520 and you guys wouldn't give them the rebates, so he 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.359 decided to take the money off of his cars himself. 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:48.600 Right. 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:50.840 That's when the Tesla's were at his lowest at at 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.080 one time. What should your thought process on that? 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:56.159 And Elon Musk, Look, what they have built a Tesla 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.719 is extraordinary and that's part of why evs are available. 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.320 Push the market forward, biggest maker of vvs in the country. 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:06.440 Our job is to try to make sure that the 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:11.000 industry as a whole does well, and we want to 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.920 make sure that it does well in America with American workers. 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:15.880 And obviously we care about workers having a free and 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.080 fair choice to join a union, which some auto companies 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.400 do and some auto companies do not. Past that, we're 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:23.760 not out to put a thumb on the scale. We 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:25.560 just need to make sure these cars are safe and 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:28.960 we want any business on American soil with American workers 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:30.599 making American cars to thrive. 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.760 Mayor Pete, you know one of the things that Mayor 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:36.200 Pete now, Secretary. 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.440 Pete, I'll always answer to Mayor and I. 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.360 Love that I think it really prepares you for where 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:44.719 you are now. I want to just commend you on 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:46.920 the fact that you've been one of the most consistent 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:48.560 administration voices. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:49.120 That have been on this show. 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:54.479 That's right, And I also think that it's really interesting 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.479 that other than that, the most times I hear about 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.720 you is when something went wrong in transport to and 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.640 nine times out of ten, your responsibility is to hold 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:07.440 the folks accountable. You didn't do it, for example, the 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.760 railroad derailments earlier this year, and it would love for 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:14.120 you to talk to the audience about how you responded 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:18.640 to the railroad administration responded to those derailments, the fact 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.440 that they happened regularly every day, but those in particular. 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.440 Yes, the one that god the most attention was in 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:27.840 February this year in Ohio there was a Norfolk Southern 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:31.720 train who was carrying hazardous materials. It derailed and it 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.640 sent up it in order to prevent an explosion, they 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:39.720 actually burned off some of the material that was in there. Thankfully, 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.120 there were no fatalities there, but it was terrifying for 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.320 the town there, called East Palestine, and there was a 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:47.160 lot of frustration, a lot of anger, and a lot 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:54.120 of misinformation that really terrorized the community. And when that happened, 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.320 over time, I realized that we had to change the 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:01.400 way we approached these Normally, a Secretary of Transportation doesn't 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.680 go to an active HASTHMAD site or an active crash site, 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.200 not because people in this job don't care about the issue, 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.200 but because we have a National Transportation Board Safety Board. 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.800 It's designed to be independent. They do the investigation, we 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:17.640 do the policy. But what I found was people wanted 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:21.560 and needed to see a visible administration figure there, and 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.440 honestly I was a little slow to see the importance 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:26.800 of that given the misinformation that was going on. So 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:28.480 I knew that I had to get out there and 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:30.400 do something that was a little bit of a break 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:32.839 from the norm but was very important so that the 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.760 people who live in that community knew that they wouldn't 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.000 have to wait a year for the NTSB report to 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.520 come out to know that we cared about them and 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:43.240 we were supporting. Now, to be clear, our department was 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:45.959 on the ground from the first hours of that incident. 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:49.080 It's not like we weren't present or like we forgot, 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.160 but the information layer and the things that they were 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.800 being told as they had very legitimate questions like is 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.480 my house safe? Is the water safe? Which it was, 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.920 but they needed a testing to prove that is the 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:05.240 air safe. The community was so terrorized by that that 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.880 we had to take additional steps to get good information there. 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.280 But here's the other thing that's really important. When I 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:14.480 went out there, I wasn't just there to show my face. 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.079 I was there to talk about safety reforms that we need. 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.040 That incident woke up a lot of Americans to something 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.960 people didn't know, which is that all along we have 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:26.800 had every single day on average to Arouilda, were about 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:28.600 a thousand to rail onents a year in this country, 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:30.320 and there's nothing new. In fact, it used to be more. 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:35.520 They came down from many thousands a year because of regulations. 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:37.960 People don't always want to hear about regulations. Regulations aren't 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.560 always popular if they make us safer. And so right now, 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.439 there's a bill sitting in Congress called the Railway Safety Act, 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:49.240 bipartisan bill that would give my department more power to 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.800 hold these railroad companies accountable. It would allow us to 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.480 increase the fines to something that would really get their attention, 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:59.600 because right now, a multi billion dollar corporation might not 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:01.760 really care that much about the fines at the level 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:03.760 that we're allowed to assess if we catch them in 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:07.400 a violation other measures around the physical safety of the 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.800 tank cars that these chemicals move in, And it's just 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.240 sitting there, and some of the same members of Congress 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.000 who couldn't wait to get on TV to try to 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.360 make a part of an issue out of this still 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:19.199 haven't gone on the record on whether they're four or 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.000 against it. By February, it's going to be a year 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.560 since that crash happened. And again, there are other derailments, 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.319 thankfully usually not as serious, but there are other derailments 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.800 happening every day. We need those enforcement tools, we need 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:33.600 that stepped up action, and we're doing everything we can 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:36.640 under the laws as it exists, but we need Congress 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:37.559 to do more too. 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:40.240 Is that a limit with the cars that the actual 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:42.480 trains can carry, because anybody that lives in seventy five 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.240 to seven Virginia knows that those trains are going for 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.040 fifteen to twenty minutes, So is there a limit that 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:49.960 maybe we break it up so you wouldn't have that 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:51.240 many disriyments. 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:53.520 There's not, but we're looking at the safety issues of that, 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:55.680 because now you've got trains that are a mile long, 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.400 two miles long, three miles long. It is amazing. And 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.400 this is another thing we're working on right now. There's 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.400 actually no legal requirement on how many people need to 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:11.679 be staffing that train. The railroad industry. Bobby has been 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.600 pushing to have it be down to one. Imagine one 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.720 person on a train that's three miles long. We see 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:19.719 the back of it, no, I mean we take you 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:21.720 an hour to walk to the back of it. So 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.679 we were putting through a rule that would establish a 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:27.679 minimum staffing standard. But we're also looking at some of 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:29.680 the safety implications of trains being that long. Then you 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:32.880 have the community implications when I'm in especially in smaller communities, 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.600 and they have these railroad crossings and you get stuck 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:40.760 behind it twenty minutes and it's not crazy for your commute, 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.319 but sometimes that's an ambulance, you know, Sometimes that's that's 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:45.400 a safety issue. Somebody really needs to get there. But 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.560 we're also changing that. So we have another part that 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:52.679 I love the Presence Infrastructure Plan is we have dollars 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.400 for railroad crossing elimination. Now we can't get all of them. 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:57.600 There's there's one hundreds of thousands of these, but we 0:11:57.640 --> 0:11:59.040 can go to some of the places. We were in 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.719 North Dakota and forced North Dakota. They've been trying to 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:03.760 get rid of this railroad crossing since I think nineteen 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:06.400 ninety one. Everybody in town when we went there and 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:07.920 knew about the spot we were talking about. I think 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.240 it's forty first Street that just cuts off one part 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:12.840 of town where the university is, from another part of town. 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:17.319 And we're finally we brought the funding that's going to 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:23.240 allow them to eliminate that crossing. We're in Orangeburg, South Carolina. 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.280 You know a lot about orange We're with the Congressman 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.320 Cliburn there celebrating work that's going to help there where 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:33.400 you have highways and railways that cut people off. So 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:36.600 in addition to holding the railroads accountable, we're also looking 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:40.439 at the physical infrastructure here. Now I would be remiss 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.320 if I did not mention that as we speak, House 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.680 Republicans are pushing cuts to a program called CHRISSY, the 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:51.360 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety Improvement Program, which is one of 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.880 the main sources of federal dollars we use to improve 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.920 the safety of our railroads. I would argue that now 0:12:57.960 --> 0:12:59.560 is the time to double down on that, not to 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.160 cut it. And you're going to hear me making a 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.640 lot of noise about this as they're deciding how to vote. 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:08.760 You know, the other thing you brought up East Palestine, 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.200 which is not exactly the same as what's happening in 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:15.080 the Middle East and Palestine is conflict. There are a 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.600 lot of folks in the community who feel very strongly 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:20.640 about the amount of four and eight dollars that are 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.800 going overseas to support but aren't feeling that same type 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.880 of aid and relief in our own communities. Department of 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.760 Transportation is responsible for some of the relief that can 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:33.839 be provided to the community. So can you talk a 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:35.840 little bit about what you all are doing in that regard. 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:37.920 Yeah, we're focused on what we can do with the 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.559 federal dollars that have been entrusted to us to make 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:42.079 everyday life better. It's part of why I'm here in 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:42.360 New York. 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:42.560 Yea. 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:46.720 Yeah, So we've got the Hudson Tunnel. This is a 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:48.640 ton of hundreds of thousands of people count on this 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:52.880 to get their communities from here to New Jersey and beyond. 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:55.800 It's one hundred years old. And if there was a 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:57.360 problem that took that tunnel out of. 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.160 Service, it's one hundred years old than one. 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:01.720 Hundred years old, I think it was. It was finished 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:03.200 when Teddy Roosevelt was present. 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:05.400 Connect new jurority dependentation. 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.200 Yeah, you've probably been through it very very often, right, 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.240 and you're going through century old infrastructure. We got one 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.480 in Baltimore that that we're redoing. It will be known 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:16.400 as the Frederick Douglas Tunnel. Right now, it's known as 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:20.040 the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel. Well, he said, the Hudson 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:22.360 Hudson Yeah, yeah, East River Tunnel needs some work too, 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.560 and we're working on that. So and this is a 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:28.680 major I mean the Hudson Tunnel piece alone, that's gonna 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.120 be one of the biggest public works projects in modern 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:31.920 American history. 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:33.680 The twenty ninety ten million dollars. 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.880 That's just the start we've got. We've got billions more 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:39.600 identified in our transit programs, and then we're gonna we're 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:41.440 gonna have more announcements to make about that. It's gonna 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:43.160 be billions. But yeah, this is two hundred ninety two 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.040 million dollar piece that's gonna do the concrete casing around 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:50.240 Hudson Yards that that's a big piece of it because 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:52.440 we really need it. People count on it every day, 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:53.960 whether they think about it or not. In fact, our 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:55.960 goal is that people don't have to think about it. Yeah, 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.160 if you're not thinking about infrastructure, if you're not thinking 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:00.720 about whether there's a hole in the road that's going 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.320 to screw up your car, or whether your train's going 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:04.800 to be late because there's a problem in the tunnel, 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.320 then you can think about whatever else you're dealing with 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:09.680 in life. You can think about your job, you can 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:11.200 think about your kids, you can think about your. 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.360 Faith, especially when you all that traffic that is going 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.240 to cause because of the construction while we're doing it. 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:18.800 That's not what I had in mind. 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:21.040 But the other thing is if you put back on 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:24.720 your mayor p heat, it's not just folks getting to work. 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.200 There are folks who are going to work on these projects. 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.400 Absolutely, and that's the because, look, some of these projects 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:31.200 are going to take a while before they're done, but 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:34.520 even during that period, you're talking about where things are 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.440 you know, delayed or backed up. The jobs that that's creating, 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:40.840 and we're working to make sure that that there's fair 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:43.200 access to those jobs. We've heard so many stories from 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.680 from communities and people who look at you know, the 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:47.720 project finally comes to their neighborhood and they say great, 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:50.000 but nobody working on this project looks like they're from 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:50.720 this neighbor. 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.280 My dad is the main one with the bullhorn, this 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:54.800 bother yea. 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:59.400 So we've got local higher preferences that that we're now 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:01.920 able to do under the law. We've been working with 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.800 project labor agreements and community benefit agreements. I was in 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:08.000 LA their program called Higher LAX specifically for people who 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.760 are from the same zip code as Lax to get 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.480 into these building trade jobs. And some of them, you know, 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:15.600 some of them had had been homeless in the past, 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:17.880 some of them had had an involvement in the justice system, 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:22.640 and we're now making good money educating their kids, buying 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.640 a home. I mean, these are transformational opportunities when you 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.640 get some of these construction jobs. So we're really excited 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.440 about that. Will it take so some of the projects 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:35.800 we can do in one construction season, that's going to 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:36.880 be years. 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:42.280 Four years more minimal casing, so the concrete casing we 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.520 think they do in about three years other parts of 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.120 it are going to go well into the twenty thirties. 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.520 It's just that big of a vision when you talk 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.000 about the overall connection of what's called the Gateway linking 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.120 all the way there. But that's that's part of what 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:55.600 we know you have to do. You have to have 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:58.160 a portfolio of projects from ones are going to be 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.400 done by this year to ones that you know some 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:03.600 other Transportation secretary is going to get to cut the 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.360 ribbon on one day. But that also means a pipeline 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:08.600 of work you can expect, and you know, some of 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:10.480 these are a long time coming. The other big one 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.600 that we're excited about that were announcing the Second Avenue subway, 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:15.840 extending that out to one hundred and twenty fifth Street. 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.400 That neighborhood has been asking for decades to get that 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:25.240 kind of subway access and we're finally able to get 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:27.360 it done with this kind of fun day and it's 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:29.760 I know that's going to change lives. Yes, the job's 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:31.520 working on it, but also just the jobs that people 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:33.480 are going to be able to have because they can 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:35.000 take advantage of the Transit. 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:37.840 Secretary p There was a rumor that that's been going 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.760 on probably since I've been alive that in any state 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:43.199 that you're in, if the roads are bad and you 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:47.040 hit a pothole, you can send the bill to your 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.520 local or state official and they were replenishing money. 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:51.240 Is that true? 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:53.000 I would not bank on that. 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:55.600 I don't know why people say it every time, because 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:57.160 if they say, if you get a flat tie, because 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:58.760 if we pay for the roads and it is a 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:02.120 pothole and image my tie, that there was a way 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:03.760