GOP congressman praises Buttigieg for helping 'tone down the rhetoric in D.C.'


Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) wants to give Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg credit for his work during negotiations over President Biden's infrastructure proposal. "Any one of my colleagues who says that we can't work with Secretary Buttigieg just because he ran for president as a Democrat, I don't think understands the importance of bipartisanship when it comes to transportation-infrastructure investment," Davis told The Atlantic.
Davis, who is considered a moderate Republican, said he and other GOP lawmakers have been impressed with how often Buttigieg reaches out to them and his willingness to listen. It's "an understatement" to say the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor has more of a working relationship with Congress than other Biden Cabinet members, Davis said. And even though the two sides remain far apart on several key components of the proposal, Davis told The Atlantic, "that doesn't mean that the outreach and his personalization and relationship-building has not helped to tone down the rhetoric in D.C. and begin to hopefully get us back to some bipartisan agreement." Read more at The Atlantic.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoff
Speed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
-
YouTube to pay Trump $22M over Jan. 6 expulsion
Speed Read The president accused the company of censorship following the suspension of accounts post-Capitol riot
-
Oregon sues to stop Trump military deployment
Speed Read The president wants to send the National Guard into Portland