Rep. Barletta in the running to be Trump’s transportation secretary
Rep. Lou Barletta is being considered for Donald Trump’s Transportation Secretary, according to one source close to the President-elect’s transition team.
The Pennsylvania Republican was an early Trump supporter and is now helping Trump fill out his Cabinet and identify top administration staff as part of the transition.
He will meet with Trump Tuesday. His office would not comment on his prospects for an appointment.
As a cardinal on the House Transportation Committee, Barletta, just elected to his fourth term, met Trump while overseeing his bid to turn the historic Beltway Post Office building into a ritzy hotel.
Barletta also invited Trump to speak on a December 2013 panel about public-private partnerships that he hosted as emergency management subcommittee chairman. Trump couldn’t go, but sent his daughter Ivanka in his stead.
Over the course of Trump’s presidential campaign, Barletta became a key member of the Trump Caucus, a group of core Hill supporters that tried to convince skeptical Republicans to back the real estate tycoon. He advised Trump on immigration and transportation issues, submitting policy pitches to the candidate’s team.
As secretary of Transportation, Barletta would be tasked with implementing a key pillar of Trump’s policy agenda: boosting infrastructure spending. The President-elect has said repeatedly that he wants to rebuild the nation’s roads and bridges — a task that would fall under the Transportation Department’s jurisdiction.