Federico Peña: Difference between revisions

 

Peña advised [[Arkansas]] Governor [[Bill Clinton]] on transportation issues during Clinton's Presidential transition and thereafter Clinton chose Peña to head the [[United States Department of Transportation]]. At DOT, Peña led an organization of 110,000 employees with a budget of $37 billion. Peña also negotiated international aviation agreements with 41 nations during his term, pressing for increased freedom for airlines to serve markets. He cut the size of the Transportation Department by some 11,000 employees.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/inaug/players/pena.htm "Peña Cuts 11,000 jobs at Transportation Department"], ''Washington Post'', December 20, 1996</ref> He implemented the first international aviation policy for the U.S. since the Carter Administration. Taking advantage of mass liberalization of airspace following the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]], the strategy opened up aviation markets around the world, contributing to the revitalization of the aviation industry. He traveled extensively throughout the world to assist U.S. transportation companies access global markets.

 

In 1995 the Justice Department conducted a preliminary investigation into a California transit agency's awarding of a pension management contract to Peña's former investment management firm. However, Peña had severed all ties to his former company both prior to the contract and prior to becoming Transportation Secretary. On March 17, 1995 [[Janet Reno]] ended the investigation.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE6DC1F3FF934A25750C0A963958260 "Secretary of Transportation Will Not Face a Prosecutor"], ''New York Times'', March 17, 1995</ref>