Pete Buttigieg, Transportation Secretary, explains how the infrastructure law will affect you

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is overseeing one of the most significant investments in America’s infrastructure, encompassing bridges, roads, and rails, thanks to the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), that got signed last year.

The Secretary will play an important role in determining which transportation-related projects receive the new federal funding.

“When it comes to roads and bridges, we haven’t invested at this level since the Eisenhower administration, since they built the interstate highway system in the first place,” Buttigieg told Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes.

Buttigieg said his agency is concerned with charging stations, seeing opportunity to create a national network of electric vehicle charging stations, allowing people with electric vehicles to drive longer distances more confidently.

“I do want people to understand, electric charging is going to be a little bit different than gas stations,” Buttigieg told Cooper. “Now, there may be electric charging at gas stations. But one thing you could never do with a gas station is charge at your house.”

The Transportation Secretary thinks electric vehicles could help both rural and urban families save on gas.

“Where my head is at is how do we spend the better part of $1 trillion in infrastructure funding accountably, on time, on task, and on budget. It literally doesn’t leave any room for me to be thinking about politics,” Buttigieg told 60 Minutes.