Rep. Yakym: “Pete Liked the Title, Duffy’s Doing the Job.”

<p><strong>WASHINGTON, D.C.</strong> – This week, Congressman Rudy Yakym (IN-02) slammed former South Bend Mayor and former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg at Transportation and Infrastructure Member Day about the mess he left for Secretary Duffy to clean up. </p>

<p>“Pothole Pete’s obsession with bureaucracy and self-promotion got in the way of putting shovels in the ground,” Rep. Yakym said. “He left behind a backlog of 3,200 projects, buried half the RAISE grants in red tape, and delivered just 300 of the 30,000 promised EV chargers under the so-called Green New Scam. Now, Secretary Duffy is left to clean up the mess. Hoosiers know Pete liked the title, but thankfully, Duffy’s doing the work.”</p>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img alt="" class="wp-image-1457" height="443" src="https://d12t4t5x3vyizu.cloudfront.net/yakym.house.gov/uploads/2025/05/Picture1-edited.jpg" width="788" /></figure>

<p class="has-text-align-center">Watch Congressman Yakym’s full remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/EgSfDfkX8Zg">here.</a></p>

<p><strong><u>Background: </u></strong><strong><u></u></strong></p>

<p>At the start of 2025, the Department of Transportation (DOT) faced a backlog of 3,200 unexecuted announced projects. <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-approves-another-76-grants-get-america">(USDOT).</a></p>

<p>As of November 2024, only 224 of 414 awarded grants from FY21–23 had signed agreements (54%). <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-approves-another-76-grants-get-america">(USDOT</a> and <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2024-12/RAISE%20Grant%20Agreement%20Monthly%20Report%20-%20November%202024.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">USDOT)</a>.</p>

<p>Of 23 “highlighted” projects in DOT press releases, only 9 (39%) were executed. <a href="https://yakym.house.gov/posts/yakym-calls-out-buttigieg-for-inexcusable-infrastructure-project-delays">(Yakym.house.gov).</a></p>

<p>In Q4 of 2024, the private sector added 12,000 charging ports but in three years, Buttigieg’s Department of Transportation only built 300. <a href="https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/white-house-equity-requirements-holding-back-ev-charging-station-construction-internal-docs-show/">(Washington Free Beacon).</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://yakym.house.gov/posts/rep-yakym-pete-liked-the-title-duffys-doing-the-job">Rep. Yakym: “Pete Liked the Title, Duffy&#8217;s Doing the Job.”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://yakym.house.gov">Rudy Yakym</a>.</p>