Card Confirmed to Cabinet Post in Senate Vote
The Senate on Friday confirmed Andrew H. Card Jr., the deputy White House chief of staff, as the new transportation secretary.
Card, 44, was approved on a voice vote to succeed Samuel K. Skinner in the post. Skinner resigned in December to become President Bush’s chief of staff.
Card said during his confirmation hearing that he would quickly begin spending money from a six-year transportation bill that Congress passed last fall in an effort to help boost the economy.
A former Massachusetts state legislator, Card managed Bush’s 1988 New Hampshire Republican primary campaign and had been the President’s deputy chief of staff since the start of the Administration. He also worked in the White House as a liaison with governors during the Ronald Reagan Administration. His brother-in-law, Ronald C. Kaufman, is the White House’s political director.
In 1982, Card waged an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Massachusetts. Some GOP leaders there view him as a possible challenger to the expected reelection bids of Democratic Sens. Edward M. Kennedy in 1994 or John Kerry in 1996.
At the Transportation Department, Card will oversee several agencies, including the Coast Guard and the Federal Aviation Administration.
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