Sean Duffy slammed after handing Trump credit for Biden’s 'brand new beautiful trains'

27 August

President Joe Biden with President-elect Donald Trump and First Lady Jill Biden on November 13, 2024 (Creative Commons)

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is under fire for claiming credit for new Amtrak trains, as well as funding and improvements, all of which came from President Joe Biden’s landmark bipartisan infrastructure law — the nation’s largest infrastructure investment in more than half a century.

“Announcing the NextGen Acela!” Secretary Duffy declared on Wednesday. He touted the “brand new beautiful trains” delivered by U.S. DOT and Amtrak that will, he wrote, “increase reliability,” “lower ticket costs,” and “improve Amtrak profitability.”

“This is all part of @POTUS’ vision to Make Travel Great again,” Duffy claimed.

But several critics were quick to point to President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) that was signed into law in November 2021.

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere wrote: “as detailed on the Amtrak website, the improvements that Secretary Duffy says are all part of Trump’s ‘vision to Make Travel Great again’ are in fact from the Biden-signed bipartisan infrastructure act, and which were underway long before Trump took office again in January.”

The “information about the source of the funding for the ‘new era of rail’ — a priority for famously Amtrak-loving Biden — is up on the Amtrak site here,” he noted, pointing to this Amtrak website, which reads:

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Amtrak and passenger rail to play a central role in improving how people move and securing our economic future. This historic legislation provides $66 billion for rail, including: $22 billion directly to Amtrak over five years to repair or replace aging assets, modernize our fleet, improve station accessibility, and other capital projects and purposes defined under the law.”

Also, Amtrak noted, “$44 billion for Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) discretionary grants to support various improvements to passenger and freight railroads.”

Others also blasted the DOT chief.

“Sean Duffy, surprising absolutely no one, taking credit for something brought to you in large part by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed by President Biden,” charged former chief Pentagon spokesperson Chris Meagher.

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