00:00Thank you, Chairwoman Capito and Ranking Member Whitehouse.
00:04It's good to see you, Secretary Duffy.
00:07I want to, first of all, thank you for your responsiveness.
00:11When I've called or text, you've been very responsive,
00:15and I appreciated our conversation as well
00:18in preparation for today's hearing.
00:20I'm running back and forth between two committees,
00:24so I apologize, but the other committee was also focused
00:28on safety, Commerce Committee,
00:31we were talking about aviation safety.
00:34And so today, we all know how important safety is.
00:39And again, just want to thank you for taking the time.
00:42I want to focus, for me, on a couple of projects.
00:46You've probably heard a theme here from many of us
00:50that are important to Delaware.
00:52And I know when we talked, one of our conversations
00:55a few months ago was about the announcement
01:01of funding freezes, and you were very responsive
01:04at the time, and I shared with you recently
01:07that in Delaware, we have the Cape May Lewis Ferry System,
01:10which received a $20 million grant to replace
01:13an aging vessel with a hybrid ferry that is now on hold.
01:19This new hybrid ferry's engine would reduce
01:21fuel consumption by 35%.
01:26That's transformational.
01:27Over the past 60 years, the Cape May Lewis Ferry
01:31has been a stable provider for travel and tourism.
01:35The service transports approximately 775,000 passengers
01:40and 275,000 vehicles a year.
01:44Without modernizing this, without this funding
01:47for the modernization, this vessel,
01:51we would just be at risk.
01:53And so, Secretary Duffy, I wanted to talk to you
01:57about the certainty of these funds.
01:59Can I tell my constituents that this funding
02:02for the project is still confirmed?
02:05Yes, so Senator, just yes.
02:08But when you say the money was, we froze money,
02:11we did not freeze any money at the department.
02:14There's obligated projects that money continued
02:16to go out on.
02:17These are, and by the way, I appreciate,
02:19you've been very kind in our.
02:21No, that's what I mean.
02:22You were responsive to call me back
02:23and tell me the money isn't.
02:25Yeah, so these are announced projects
02:28that we need to grant agreements on.
02:31And that's gonna take some work,
02:32but I don't see any issue with the announcements
02:34and that we should be able to do grant agreements.
02:37And I have to, again, prioritize for everybody
02:41has projects to the tune of 3,200 of them.
02:45But I'm trying to get through them as quickly as possible.
02:49But you can tell your constituents,
02:50the secretary doesn't see any issue
02:52with these grant agreements that were announced
02:54and he's gonna try to work through them
02:55as quickly as possible.
02:56Thank you, thank you.
02:57And I just request that our team continue
02:59to follow up with each other after the hearing.
03:02Absolutely.
03:02I'd like to bring another project to your attention
03:05and that is the city of Wilmington was awarded
03:08a $17 million raise grant to build
03:11the appropriate infrastructure for vehicles,
03:13pedestrians, and bicycles along the riverfront
03:17in support of a larger riverfront development project.
03:21While monthly land use discussions have continued
03:24with the Federal Highway Administration,
03:27the grant agreement discussions have not yet resumed.
03:32So Secretary Duffy, if you can clarify,
03:36you said this isn't on hold,
03:38but is one of the challenges
03:41because it's multimodal transportation?
03:45No, I appreciate the question, Senator.
03:47This is one of the issues that this project
03:51is for the Wilmington raise grant.
03:54It was announced in 2021, but this is an old one.
03:58And I've been there for two months.
03:59So I will commit to working with you and your team
04:03and our team to make sure we get the grant agreement
04:06written and get the project going.
04:08But the two months I've been there,
04:10I'm not the holdup, it's three years
04:12in the making to get us here.
04:14And I think it's fair to you to go,
04:16well, I don't care about the past three years.
04:18I care about what you're gonna do for me today.
04:20And I'm gonna work with you to deliver for you
04:23in this administration.
04:24It's interesting, you're actually talking on my behalf,
04:27which you think I might be thinking.
04:29I'm just saying, this is an important project to Delaware.
04:33I just wanna confirm that it's part of a larger picture.
04:37It also includes flood mitigation and protection.
04:40And so just wanna make sure that our teams
04:43can work together to make sure that the talks continue
04:47and that we get this implemented for Delaware.
04:50And I see some folks in the audience
04:53who have the bikers, our bike riders shirts on.
04:57And I am also very much supportive of programs
05:03like the Safe Streets and Roads for All
05:05and the Neighborhood Access and Equity Program.
05:08These investments have helped, as I mentioned, safety.
05:13We think about the safety of cyclists
05:14as well as pedestrians.
05:16And so we hope that you will also focus on these grants
05:20and making sure that this money is not politicized.
05:23I know there was a memo that talked,
05:24an internal memo that talked about the different things
05:27that would be potentially on the chopping block.
05:31We hope that our cyclists, our pedestrians,
05:34as well as those who are traveling are safe.
05:38Thank you, and I yield back.
05:39Thank you, Senator.
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