Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the only Republican still in President Barack Obama's first-term Cabinet, said Tuesday he plans to leave the administration. His move continues an exodus that will give Obama's team a new look in his second term.
The 67-year-old LaHood, a former congressman from Illinois, pushed for greater safety on the highways and in the air.
He led the Transportation Department throughout Obama's first term and helped steer a campaign to curb distracted driving, promote high-speed rail and repair roads and bridges. Under his watch, the department demanded tougher fuel efficiency requirements for automakers and took steps to address airline pilot fatigue.
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." Thomas Jefferson