Sean Duffy was officially sworn yesterday in as the 20th Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT). Upon arrival at USDOT headquarters, his first act was signing a memorandum directing staff to start the process of resetting Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which will ultimately lower the price of a car for American consumers and eliminate the electric vehicle mandate.

The memorandum signed by the Secretary directs the Office of the General Counsel, the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to immediately initiative a rulemaking to rescind or replace all existing CAFE standards.

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) welcomed this vote in the US Senate to confirm him as secretary of the US Department of Transportation (DOT), the overarching agency that oversees the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), by a vote of 77-22.

Duffy led Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district in the US House of Representatives for nearly nine years, a role that provided him with firsthand insight into the critical role of general aviation in rural locations without airline service.

Prior to his election to Congress in 2011, he worked in private law practice and later served as a prosecutor for Ashland County, WI. He was subsequently named acting assistant district attorney and district attorney for the county.

The new secretary earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s College and his juris doctorate from William Mitchell College of Law.