Trump’s DOT Nominee Has Voting History That Demands Answers

By Sean Jeans-Gail | V.P. of Gov’t Affairs + Policy

President-Elect Donald Trump nominated former Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy to be his Secretary of Transportation earlier this week. What the rail policy of a Duffy-led U.S. Department of Transportation in Trump’s second administration would look like is largely unknown, but Rail Passengers Association discovered former-Congressman Duffy has an alarming voting history on rail-focused amendments that we believe requires answers.

Duffy, 53, was elected to represent Wisconsin’s seventh congressional district in 2010, where he served until 2019 when he left to spend more time with his family. He currently hosts Fox Business’ The Bottom Line. He also appeared on MTV's reality television show "The Real World: Boston" in 1997.

While the Trump campaign was largely silent on infrastructure policy, candidate Trump has been known to speak about how far the U.S. has fallen behind China in developing high-speed rail networks.

“And you know, it's sad, because I've seen some of the greatest trains, I find it fascinating, and I've seen the systems and how they work, and the bullet trains they call them… they go unbelievably fast, unbelievably comfortable with no problems, and we don't have anything like that in this country, not even close,” said President-elect Trump in an August 2024 interview with tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. “It doesn't make sense that we don't, doesn't make sense.”

However, rail wasn’t mentioned by name in Trump’s announcement of his nomination of Duffy.

“[Duffy] will prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness, and Beauty when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports,” said Trump. “He will ensure our ports and dams serve our Economy without compromising our National Security, and he will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] for pilots and air traffic controllers.”

There doesn’t seem to be any record of Duffy expressing his views on passenger rail—high-speed, Amtrak, or otherwise. However, Rail Passengers dug into his voting record as a Member of Congress and found an alarming trend in how he voted on amendments targeting Amtrak, Brightline, and passenger rail generally.

In a survey of fourteen recorded votes that we merited to be sufficiently passenger rail-focused to score, then-Congressman Duffy took the anti-passenger rail position every time.

There’s no strong ideological throughline to the votes, which include targets as varied as individual Amtrak routes, individual Amtrak projects, Amtrak’s entire network (National Network and Northeast Corridor), and Florida’s privately funded Brightline project. Rather, the votes betray a reflexive anti-passenger train bias.

The most generous interpretation is that, since Wisconsin’s 7th wasn’t directly served by Amtrak*, Duffy’s office rarely heard from constituents who depended on Amtrak, and thus relied on voting recommendations from colleagues and conservative think tanks.

However, it’s worth pointing out that Duffy ignored guidance by Republican leadership in some of these votes. In 2017, Duffy voted for an amendment offered by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) to completely eliminate all Amtrak capital and operating funding, which would have eliminated Amtrak service nationwide. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation that had jurisdiction over the bill, got up on the House floor to speak against the bill, advising his colleagues to vote “no”; the amendment was defeated in a bipartisan fashion by a vote of 293 to 128.

Regardless, Rail Passengers believes Duffy’s voting record raises serious red flags that require answers.

“We remain open to working with the Trump Administration on advancing passenger rail programs in the coming Congress, but Mr. Duffy’s voting record demands answers,” said Jim Mathews, President and CEO of Rail Passengers. “We will be working with our allies in the Senate to ensure that a meaningful commitment to the continuation of passenger rail service to all parts of the country is requested of Mr. Duffy in advance of any confirmation.”

The Senate will take up President-elect Trump’s nominations early next year. It is extremely unlikely that this voting record would be enough to sink Duffy’s nomination (the Senate has rejected only three Presidential nominations via recorded vote over the past 100 years). However, as we’ve seen with nominees to Amtrak’s Board, the Senate has leverage to make inquiries and extract promises of future cooperation on certain programs and policies. Rail Passengers will work with these same Senate offices to make them aware of this voting record as part of our work to defend the rights of America’s passengers.

Duffy’s Passenger Rail Voting Record

113th Congress Votes

Voted YES on Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) amendment to H.R. 4745 to reduce the Operating Grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation by $34 million and to apply the savings to the spending reduction account (amendment failed).

Voted YES on Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) amendment to H.R. 4745 amendment to prohibit the use of funds to support any Amtrak route whose costs exceed two times its revenues, based on Amtrak’s five year business plan from May 2013, a policy tailored to target Amtrak’s long-distance routes (amendment failed).

Voted YES on Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) amendment to H.R. 4745 to prohibit the use of the funds for high-speed rail in the State of California or for the California High-Speed Rail Authority (amendment adopted).

114th Congress

Voted YES on the Rep. Tom McClintock amendment to H.R. 749 to eliminate all authorized Amtrak funding—a move that would have killed passenger train service in this country as we know it (amendment failed).

Voted NO on the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015 (H.R. 749), a seminal authorizing bill for passenger rail service in the U.S. (bill passed).

Voted YES on Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) amendment to H.R. 2577 to eliminate all of Amtrak’s operating funding—a move that would have killed passenger train service in this country as we know it (amendment failed).

Voted YES on Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) amendment to H.R. 2577 to eliminate all of Amtrak’s capital funding—a move that would have killed passenger train service in this country as we know it (amendment failed).

Voted YES on Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) amendment to H.R. 2577 to prohibit the use of funds to support Amtrak's route with the highest revenue loss per rider, an attack on long-distance routes (amendment failed)

Voted YES on Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) amendment to prohibit the use of funds to support any Amtrak route whose costs exceed 2 times its revenues, an attack on long-distance routes (amendment failed).

Voted YES on Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) amendment to prohibit the use of funds by the Department of Transportation to take any actions with respect to the financing of passenger rail projects along Florida's East Coast, a bill targeting the now-successful Brightline service in Florida (amendment failed).

Voted YES on Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) amendment to prohibit the use of funds by the Department of Transportation to authorize exempt facility bonds to finance passenger rail projects that cannot attain the speed of 150 mph, a bill targeting the now-successful Brightline service in Florida (amendment failed).

Voted YES on Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) amendment to prohibit the use of funds by the Department of Transportation to make a loan in an amount that exceeds $600 million under the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act, a bill targeting the now-successful Brightline service in Florida (amendment failed).

115th Congress

Voted YES on Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) amendment to H.R. 3354 to eliminate a $900 million allocation for the upgrade of an Amtrak rail line between Newark and New York City by increasing funding for national New Starts Projects by $400 million and applying savings from the elimination of the TIGER Grant program to deficit reduction (amendment failed).

Voted YES on Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) amendment to H.R. 3354 to eliminate $1.1 billion in operating and capital funding to Amtrak—a move that would have killed passenger train service in this country as we know it (amendment failed).

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*However, many of his constituents would’ve undoubtedly driven to Tomah to take the Empire Builder, which is a stone’s throw away from the border of the 7th, and his district does have Amtrak Thruway service.