section_path: Secretary of Transportation (2025 – present)/Tenure
section_name: Tenure
paragraph_text: Tenure
  
  Duffy was officially sworn in by United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on January 28, 2025. On January 29, 2025, Duffy was ceremonially sworn in by Vice President JD Vance.
  
  In his first act in office on January 29, Duffy signed a memorandum directing his department to immediately rescind and replace all existing corporate average fuel economy standards and eliminate the electric vehicle tax incentives instituted by the administration of Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden. In an additional memo, Duffy ordered that Transportation Department-supported programs and activities "shall prioritize projects and goals that... to the extent practicable, relevant, appropriate, and consistent with law, mitigate the unique impacts of DOT programs, policies, and activities on families and family-specific difficulties, such as the accessibility of transportation to families with young children, and give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average."
  
  On his first official day in office, Duffy responded to the 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision from the Federal Aviation Administration headquarters. Immediately following the accident, Duffy instructed an investigation be opened into the cause of the crash and ordered his department to "provide full support to the NTSB and all responding agencies and authorities." During the recovery, he held phone conversations with D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, Kansas governor Laura Kelly, and NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. At approximately 12:30 a.m. EST, Duffy, Bowser, MWAA president and CEO John E. Potter, Senator Jerry Moran, and Senator Roger Marshall delivered the first official press conference regarding the incident at Reagan National Airport.
  
  On March 7, 2025, The New York Times reported that Sean Duffy had a clash with Elon Musk during a White House cabinet meeting. The secretary criticized DOGE's pressure to dismiss air traffic controllers at a time when his department was facing a series of air accidents. Musk retorted that what Duffy had said was a "lie".
  
  In April 2025, Duffy announced federal funding would be cut for the Texas Central Railway line.
  
  Duffy was officially sworn in by United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on January 28, 2025. On January 29, 2025, Duffy was ceremonially sworn in by Vice President JD Vance.
  
  In his first act in office on January 29, Duffy signed a memorandum directing his department to immediately rescind and replace all existing corporate average fuel economy standards and eliminate the electric vehicle tax incentives instituted by the administration of Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden. In an additional memo, Duffy ordered that Transportation Department-supported programs and activities "shall prioritize projects and goals that... to the extent practicable, relevant, appropriate, and consistent with law, mitigate the unique impacts of DOT programs, policies, and activities on families and family-specific difficulties, such as the accessibility of transportation to families with young children, and give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average."
  
  On his first official day in office, Duffy responded to the 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision from the Federal Aviation Administration headquarters. Immediately following the accident, Duffy instructed an investigation be opened into the cause of the crash and ordered his department to "provide full support to the NTSB and all responding agencies and authorities." During the recovery, he held phone conversations with D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, Kansas governor Laura Kelly, and NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. At approximately 12:30 a.m. EST, Duffy, Bowser, MWAA president and CEO John E. Potter, Senator Jerry Moran, and Senator Roger Marshall delivered the first official press conference regarding the incident at Reagan National Airport.
  
  On March 7, 2025, The New York Times reported that Sean Duffy had a clash with Elon Musk during a White House cabinet meeting. The secretary criticized DOGE's pressure to dismiss air traffic controllers at a time when his department was facing a series of air accidents. Musk retorted that what Duffy had said was a "lie".
  
  In April 2025, Duffy announced federal funding would be cut for the Texas Central Railway line.