FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 24, 2001
Contact: Bill Adams
Tel.: (202) 366-5580
DOT 17-01

"I am grateful to the United States Senate, particularly to Senators McCain and Hollings, for today’s confirmation. I am especially grateful for Senator McCain’s willingness to move this confirmation quickly through the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and onto the Senate floor for a vote.

"Transportation is vital to our national well-being, whether measured as economic growth, as international competitiveness, or as quality of life, and I look forward to working with the Senate in implementing President Bush’s agenda for transportation."

Prior to joining President Bush’s administration, Mineta served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Clinton, becoming the first Asian Pacific American to serve in the cabinet. He will become the first Secretary of Transportation to have served in a cabinet position. Prior to joining the Commerce Department, he was a vice president at Lockheed Martin Corporation.

From 1975 to 1995 he served as a member of U.S. House of Representatives, representing the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. As a member of Congress, Mineta was known for his dedication to the people of his district, for consensus building among his colleagues and for forging public-private partnerships. Mineta’s legislative and policy agenda was wide and varied, including major projects in the areas of economic development, science and technology policy, trade, transportation, the environment, intelligence, the budget and civil rights. He co-founded the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and served as its first chair.

Mineta served as chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee between 1992 and 1994. He chaired the committee’s aviation subcommittee between 1981 and 1988, and its Surface Transportation Subcommittee from 1989 to 1991. During his career in Congress he championed increases in investment for transportation infrastructure, and was a key author of the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, which shifted decisions on highway and mass transit planning to state and local governments.

After leaving the Congress, Mineta chaired the National Civil Aviation Review Commission, which in 1997 issued recommendations on reducing traffic congestion and reducing the aviation accident rate. Many of the Commission’s recommendations were adopted, including reform of DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to enable it to perform more like a business.

Mineta and his family were among the 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry forced from their homes and into internment camps during World War II. After graduating from the University of California at Berkley, Mineta joined the Army in 1953 and served as an intelligence officer in Japan and Korea. He joined his father at the Mineta Insurance Agency before entering politics in San Jose, serving as a member of its City Council from 1967 to 1971 and mayor from 1971 to 1974, becoming the first Asian Pacific American mayor of a major U.S. city.

Mineta is married to Daniela Mineta. He has two sons, David and Stuart Mineta, and two stepsons, Robert and Mark Brantner.

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Briefing Room