Overview
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, in a Tuesday Senate hearing, pressed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over a seven-month road-trip series backed by sponsors including Boeing, Toyota, Shell, United Airlines, and Royal Caribbean.
- Duffy defended the project as a nonprofit partnership tied to America 250 that aimed to promote travel, saying he filmed quickly and that it was about encouraging families to see the country.
- Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Sunday that the series is an embarrassment, arguing on CNN that corporate funding is unfair and that many families cannot afford long drives because of high fuel prices.
- Duffy hit back on social media with a video calling Buttigieg a sloth and touting Trump-era transportation actions, including $12 billion for hiring air traffic controllers, plans to replace eight control towers, upgrades for 41 contract towers, and tougher enforcement on trucking licenses in California and New York.
- Duffy maintains taxpayers did not fund production and says his family took no salary or royalties, while critics frame the sponsorships as a pay-to-play risk because many sponsors fall under DOT oversight.