Biden swears in Foxx in second DOT ceremony

{mosads}”We’re doing it to make sure,” Biden said to laughter from the audience of department employees.

“Because if you do it twice … he can’t change his mind,” Biden continued.

Foxx said his top commitment in the post would be safety, during his first public remarks as secretary.

“My overwhelming priority as secretary is to make our transportation system the safest in the world,” Foxx said during an approximately 15-minute speech after taking the oath of office.

Foxx alluded to the transportation funding problems that have clouded discussions about new road and transit projects for several years, saying he would focus first on boosting the performance of current infrastructure.

“We must work to improve the efficiency and performance of our existing transportation system,” he said.

Foxx said it was important to make the U.S. transportation system work better because “Americans want their time back, not hours of traffic.”