Buttigieg says info on infrastructure plans will be released ‘in short order’

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday said information about the administration’s infrastructure plans will be released shortly.

“Conversations are taking place right now, as you’ve seen — Oval Office meetings with the president, leaders from both parties, from both houses. It’s fair to say that in short order you’re going to be seeing more,” he said during a visit to a UPS facility in Landover, Md.

Without providing a specific timeline, Buttigieg said the administration will be taking action well before a Sept. 30 deadline to reauthorize surface transportation funding.

“We’ve got a clock on everything we’re doing, especially because the present surface reauthorization is up in September. We’re not waiting until September in order to act,” said Buttigieg, a one-time rival of President Biden during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

Infrastructure legislation is expected to be the next big policy priority for the administration now that Biden has signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief relief bill into law. 

Buttigieg on Monday would not commit to an infrastructure proposal being unveiled this month, saying the timing would be left up to Biden.

“I’ll let the president lead on the legislative priorities and sequencing, but as you’ve seen from the public impatience and the congressional interest, these conversations are very much live,” he said.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Bipartisan Policy Center and other groups in Washington have called for Congress to pass an infrastructure package by the Fourth of July.