What do you want Washingtonians to
take away from from your visit?
And who may just say, oh,
it's just just another politician here?
Well look, I always believe that
good policy is good politics anyway.
We're here because there's
good policy going on.
And and by the way, it's it's not
everything has to be political.
Quite a few Republicans crossed
the aisle to vote with Democrats
to get this legislation done.
And the result is what I really
want people to understand the
the fact that we are going to
continue making improvements.
We've already.
Put out a number of grants from helping
make improvements at the airport
Seattle Tacoma Airport to getting the
West Seattle Bridge up and running.
We're able to support that
investments and grants that we're
making from a new ferry going up
to Lummi Island to things we're
doing in central Eastern Washington,
Wenatchee and Spokane.
These are real concrete improvements
that are going to make your life better,
your commute better,
your supply chains better,
and doesn't matter if you're left,
right or center politically,
this is the right thing to do for
our economy and for our country.
I want to talk about some of the
issues that you have been talking
about this trip, electric vehicles.
Have you ever owned an electric
vehicle yourself? Yeah.
So you know I reluctantly became a minivan
person once chaston and I became dads.
Like I'm sure many people in our
generation swore we'd never do that.
And then it's it's been the right answer.
So we have a plug in minivan.
So the way a hybrid,
so it's a electric for the 1st 3040 miles
we plug it in the garage and then if it
needs to it'll switch over to gas and
it's it's been a great benefit to us.
We're trying to make sure that EV's
are cheaper and more accessible
for all Americans.
Because we know that you can save
money if you're able to own one.
And of course,
it's an important part of the
fight against climate change.
I drove my leaf up here this morning.
I only live about 35 miles away,
but I have that anxiety.
I gotta figure out where do
I plug it in to get home?
We keep hearing about all
these charging stations,
and if I don't have a Tesla,
it's even that much harder
to find these stations.
What can be done to make
that part of it easier?
Because if somebody asks me,
I'll say I love it, but.
It's hard to find a charger
when you're on the road.
Yeah.
So part of this transition is we've got
to make it as easy to charge your car
as it is to fill up at a gas station.
And that's one of the reasons why
in this infrastructure package we
have funding to make sure there
is a national network of chargers.
That you never go more than 50 miles on
our highway network without having chargers.
And that we have more chargers in Community.
So that if you if you live in an
apartment building for example,
and you don't have a a house where
you just plug it in in the garage,
that you have a good option to charge.
The truth is.
It's just different than filling up on gas.
In some ways it's easier because there
are ways to often charge a vehicle in
your at your home or at your workplace.
On the other hand,
it's it's harder in other ways because
we don't have as many chargers as
we have gas stations and because
it takes a little bit longer to
get a car to a full charge than it
doesn't. We're talking about,
you know, 10 years down the road or.
Less than that, all electric cars,
can the grid handle it?
We've heard that concern,
we've heard about California.
Can we handle everybody plugging
their car in that night? Well,
there's no way that we can run
the the cars of the future on the
electrical system of the past.
It's one of the reasons why the
infrastructure law also includes a
lot of improvements for our electrical
grid and the the end result will be
more efficient and more resilient.
But we got to get from here to there
and that's going to take a lot of work,
a lot of investment,
but getting it right is also
going to create a lot of jobs.
The advantage of an EV is you
don't have to pay the gas prices.
I don't have to tell you,
you may have seen it on the way here.
It's it's hard to find anything under 5
bucks a gallon on this side of the state,
the West Coast especially.
What's what's what's wrong and and
and why can't your administration
do more to to get those prices down.
We talked about a gas holiday that didn't
happen what what needs to happen to to
make it affordable to drive our roads.
Yes so the
the President has taken a number
of steps to try to lower oil
and gas prices releasing oil
from the strategic oil reserve,
flexibility around ethanol,
working with other countries.
But fundamentally the thing about
oil is that it is priced based on
global markets and a lot of that.
Is based on decisions that are made
in countries like Saudi Arabia and
this is one of the problems with
depending on a source of fuel that
is is largely made in countries that
don't have our best interest at heart.
Now more domestic energy is being produced
under President Biden than ever before,
but we need to make sure that
we're dealing with both the short
term and the long term solutions.
When it comes to energy,
we have a vision for the future,
but today most people don't
have an electric vehicle.
That's why gas prices are so important and.
While I think most people know and
understand that no political actor in the
United States gets to decide gas prices,
it's not like the the oil company
is when they're setting the prices
for for the next hour of what we're
going to pay is calling the President
to check what they ought to be.
There are some things that we can do
and we're doing them aggressively.
Should we just get used to
5 bucks a gallon though?
Is that is that the new the new norm?
We've got to keep pushing
these oil and gas prices down.
It's why you're seeing more action
with the the oil reserve also the
President and the administration.
Calling attention to the fact
that there's a bigger spread right
now between the price of oil and
the price of gas than normal
and that's going right into the
pockets of of oil executives.
So companies need to be accountable,
government needs to do everything
in our power and we need to have
a long-term vision where domestic
clean energy that where you don't
have to care anymore about what
somebody's doing in the Middle East.
That's the long term solution
for our energy needs.
Is that gas tax holiday idea
something that will come up again?
Can it come up again obviously.
Yeah. The president's called
for a gas tax holiday.
It's certainly something
that would take the edge off.
And so far the the people who who
could implement that have decided
not to move in that direction,
but still something that that I
think needs to be considered.
All right. I know when you finish
with us here, at some point today,
you're flying back to DC are
you flying out of Seatac? I am.
You're going to go through the TSA lines.
Have you heard about the mess
that we've seen it? Yeah,
I saw the pictures and this is one thing I
want to emphasize that we are investing in.
Airport terminals across the
country including improvements
in spaces where passengers go
through four security checkpoints,
what goes on in baggage claim,
even really basic things like escalators,
elevators, bathrooms right now are improving
the bathrooms at Seatac because we we
see the need at airports across America.
And so it's one of the many things that
we're able to support more now that we have
this infrastructure package going through.
And look it's it's a great thing that
that more people want to be flying again.
It shows that the income is
back and that people are taking
trips and maybe we're delayed.
Over the last couple of years,
but the system's got to be
ready to handle that.
And clearly we've seen a system
that is just bursting at the seams
in terms of the ability to move
passengers through airports and
get them to where they need to be.
Could we hire some more TSA agents?
Wouldn't that help to
alleviate the two hour lines?
In some cases people were saying,
I'm not going to come back to Seattle
because of the airport yet. Yeah,
there's a combination of things.
Part of it has to do with staffing,
part of it has to do with the
physical space off in the
airports terminals we have now.
We're not built for for the kind
of passenger flow we have now.
So the answer will be different.
In each airport.
But we're going to work with
each airport to try to get
them the resources that they
need. And Thanksgiving's coming.
I think we're right now kind of in a lull,
but for folks who are going to be
traveling again when the weather turns,
what advice are you giving? What?
What? What should travelers know?
Because I don't think any of these problems
are gonna be fixed in six weeks. Well,
the first thing passengers need to know
is that our department has your back.
You can go to our website right now,
see a comparison of how different
airlines treat their passengers
if you have a situation like a a
change of cancellation or a delay,
and we encourage people to learn about that
before you make a decision to buy a ticket.
Also know your rights.
Know that that you're entitled to
certain protections or refunds.
If, for example, your flight gets
cancelled or there's a delay,
that's the airlines fault and if the
airline doesn't take care of you.
You can file a complaint with us and
we will follow up and enforce that.
We're taking more steps to make sure
passengers have a better experience
because airlines need to be prepared
to service the tickets that they sell
and to deliver a better experience.
We we saw terrible delays and cancellations,
especially early in the summer.
The cancellation rates are back at more
of what we would consider a normal level now.
But I'm watching closely as we move
into that holiday season and we see that
that level of demand pick up going into
Thanksgiving and in the winter holidays.
High speed rail, our governor
is a big fan of it state.
Legislature set aside $150 million
to study it, hoping to get some
of that that federal funding.
Don't we need to work on the
existing rails that we have?
The eastern side of our state does not get.
The service that a lot of
folks think they they deserve,
our lines here have not been improved much.
Why do we focus on,
on high speed and not what we already have?
Well, I don't think we have to pit one
mode of transportation against another.
There is a lot of investment in
the president's package toward
improving our existing rail network.
It's important for supply chains because
we need freight moving smoothly and it's
important for passengers and we deserve
better passenger rail in this country.
But for the long run,
we also do need to be preparing and
investing in high speed because.
But that's the standard that most people in
developed countries are are getting used to.
It makes no sense to me why Americans
should settle for a standard of of
speed and and convenience on the rails
that's inferior to what a citizen could
expect if they live in Germany or Japan
or Italy or even Turkey or Morocco.
We should have the best in America when
it comes to any form of infrastructure,
and that's the long term vision
we have for rail,
even while in the near term we're
really focused on taking care of
what we've got and the state of good
repair. Don't people like
their cars in this country.
I mean isn't isn't that a that's
an American way to take the
highway and trains really haven't
especially here on the West Coast
haven't shined like they do in well
you get what you pay for and we've
under invested in our rail networks
for a long time but we know that when
you have excellent passenger rail that
unlocks economic opportunity and again
this doesn't have to be an either or
just because we have excellent roads
and and and highways and bridges
which is what we're building on on the
surface side and and the roadside.
Doesn't mean we should settle for
substandard passenger rail service.
We ought to have all of the above.
Same thing with transit.
When you have excellent transit options,
that is full of benefits economically,
in terms of safety, in terms of climate.
It even benefits people who don't use
transit because it means less congestion
on the roads for people who are driving.
I know you can't talk politics,
but people are going to
be yelling at their TV.
I wish you would ask him.
So I have to ask you are you
going to run for President again?
Are you going to run in 2024?
You're the most visible transportation
secretary in a long time.
Arguably the most visible member of
the the current administration. So
as you can tell with all
the work that we're doing,
I've got my hands completely full.
And when you look at the responsibilities
and the opportunities that the President
has asked me and our department to take
on improving our our our Rd system,
fixing bridges, getting our airports, ports,
rail and everything else back up and running,
that's enough to take 110%
of my time and attention.
And I'm sure the politics
will work themselves out
in the future.
And I know there's still some
discretionary grants that need to be.
Awarded any secrets you can let us in on,
is the state of Washington going
to get a nice little package
for the holidays or sooner?
Well, I'll tell you the state of Washington
has done very well so far in these
discretionary grant programs and those
are based on merit and they're based
on the the applications that come in.
And we saw just very convincing and
compelling applications from here
with a lot of support on everything
from that ferry system for for Lonely
Island where they need new boat to
making sure that we upgrade some of
the roads and bridges in this area.
Lynnwood's getting some improvements
that are gonna help with traffic there.
And so, look, there's always more
requests than we can say yes to,
but we're able to say yes more than
ever thanks to this bipartisan
infrastructure package.
That that by the way,
never would have happened without the
leadership of a lot of people from
Washington State, members of the House,
the, the, both Senators,
Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell,
big parts of getting that done.
And we're excited about what that's
going to to deliver because this is
we're wrapping up just the first year
out of five on those investments.
I asked you what you want Washingtonians
to take away from this trip.
What are you taking away?
You haven't spent a lot
of time in this state.
What on the flight home
will you be thinking about?
Well, I'm looking forward to taking
some of the stories that I heard here
in Washington state back with me.
Whether it's the workers here at this
port who who get everything where it
needs to be and most people don't
really think much about that work.
Or the apple and cherry growers
that I met in Wenatchee talking
about what they need in order to
be able to export their products.
Have the the these amazing tree
fruits that come out of Washington
state going out to the world and
having the income from that.
Come here into America and help
build livelihoods and communities.
I'm going to be thinking about the the
workforce conversations we had yesterday,
creating more good paying construction
jobs and getting people into it
who maybe haven't been involved
in construction in the past.
A lot of workers who including
a lot of women who who have
great opportunities for them.
We got to make it a little easier
though to get those jobs and those
are just a few of the things that
I'll be thinking about on the on
the flight out from Seatac and as
I head back into into Washington,
the other Washington to do some
of the work
that's ahead. Alright,
well good luck getting through security.
Hopefully you can be streamlined
through there cause I know it's
not the case for a lot of folks.
So thanks so much. Thank you.
Appreciate you making time for us likewise.