Weekly Review With Clay and Buck - Hour 3 - Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show Episode: Weekly Review With Clay and Buck - Hour 3 - Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy
Release Date: June 7, 2025
Host: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton
Guest: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy

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Introduction

In this episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton welcome Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for an in-depth discussion on the current state of the United States' transportation infrastructure. The conversation primarily focuses on the pervasive issues within air traffic control systems, the challenges faced by major airports like Newark, and the proposed solutions under the administration's latest legislative efforts.

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Air Traffic Control Challenges

[26:17] Buck Sexton opens the discussion by highlighting the chaos at Newark Airport, emphasizing the frequent flight delays not caused by weather but by systemic issues within air traffic control.

Sean Duffy explains the multifaceted problems:

• Runway Shutdown: "In Newark, you had three things. One, they shut down a Runway to repave it... opened it up 13 days before schedule." [27:16]
• Controller Shortage: "We are 3,000 air traffic controllers short nationwide... 22 controllers in the Philly TRACON." [27:16]
• Outdated Telecom Infrastructure: "Our infrastructure for air traffic control still uses copper wires... Verizon laid brand new fiber between Philly and New York." [27:16]

Duffy acknowledges the immediate steps taken to mitigate delays by reducing flight capacity at Newark, ensuring that booked flights are more likely to proceed as scheduled. However, he stresses that long-term solutions require significant investment and modernization of the air traffic control system.

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National Air Traffic Control Modernization

[31:38] The conversation shifts to nationwide issues affecting air traffic control. Sean Duffy outlines the urgent need for updating outdated equipment:

• Aging Technology: "We are using equipment that is 25, 35 years old... really old equipment." [31:38]
• Investment Needs: "We need a lot of money from Congress... build brand new air traffic control system with the best technology." [31:38]
• Future Technologies: Duffy envisions a future where drones and autonomous air taxis become commonplace, necessitating a more advanced and scalable air traffic management system. "We're going to have more air travel... deploying evitals for urban transport." [33:45]

He emphasizes that modernizing the infrastructure will not only alleviate current delays but also accommodate emerging technologies in aviation.

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California's High-Speed Rail Project Critique

[35:21] The hosts bring up California's high-speed rail project as an example of inefficient government spending:

Sean Duffy criticizes the initiative:

• Cost Overruns and Delays: "They were supposed to do it years ago, spent billions, no track laid... truncated portion by 2033." [35:21]
• Misallocation of Funds: "They were buying land... questions about connections to politicians and potential criminal activity." [36:35]
• Alternative Investments: Duffy argues for reallocating funds to more feasible and impactful projects rather than continuing with what he terms "boondoggles." "If we let that $4 billion go, that's $4 billion you don't have for other good projects." [36:35]

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The Big Beautiful Bill: Proposed Legislation

[37:44] The discussion transitions to the "Big Beautiful Bill," a legislative package aimed at addressing transportation and economic issues. Sean Duffy outlines key provisions:

• Air Traffic Control Funding: "$12 billion for a new air traffic control system... the most important infrastructure project in decades." [37:59]
• Car Purchase Incentives: "If you buy a brand new car made in America, you can write off up to $10,000 of your interest payments." [37:59]
• Border Security Funding: The bill includes full funding for border wall construction and enhanced border security measures, aligning with President Trump's campaign promises. "This bill absolutely funds the wall and border measures that we need." [39:35]

Duffy emphasizes the importance of securing upfront funding to avoid the pitfalls of past projects where shifted priorities led to incomplete funding.

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Future of Air Travel and Drone Integration

[33:40] Sean Duffy elaborates on the integration of drone technology and autonomous air taxis into the national airspace:

• Testing and Certification: "They're testing these evitals right now... certified for the LA Olympics 2028." [33:45]
• Consumer Adoption: "Drone deliveries are happening successfully in parts of Texas... noise reduction innovations make them barely noticeable." [34:47]
• Regulatory Framework: Ensuring safety and managing increased air traffic due to drones and air taxis is a priority in the modernization plan. "We're going to build you the iPhone 15 that you can build technology off of." [34:47]

Duffy highlights that successful integration of these technologies will require the new air traffic control system to handle increased complexity and volume.

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Conclusion and Future Outlook

[39:35] As the episode wraps up, Sean Duffy reiterates his optimism about the proposed bill's impact on the economy and transportation infrastructure. He underscores the importance of sustained congressional support to fully realize these initiatives.

Buck Sexton and Clay Travis express their support and anticipation for the positive changes, encouraging listeners to stay informed and engaged with the ongoing developments in transportation policy.

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Notable Quotes

• Sean Duffy on Newark's Crisis:
  "In Newark, you had three things. One, they shut down a Runway to repave it... opened it up 13 days before schedule." [27:16]

• Duffy on Air Traffic Control Shortage:
  "We are 3,000 air traffic controllers short nationwide... 22 controllers in the Philly TRACON." [27:16]

• On Modernizing Infrastructure:
  "We need a lot of money from Congress... build brand new air traffic control system with the best technology." [31:38]

• Critique of High-Speed Rail:
  "If we let that $4 billion go, that's $4 billion you don't have for other good projects." [36:35]

• On the Big Beautiful Bill:
  "This bill absolutely funds the wall and border measures that we need." [39:35]

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Key Takeaways

1. Critical State of Air Traffic Control: The U.S. air traffic control system is plagued by outdated technology, significant staffing shortages, and aging infrastructure, leading to widespread flight delays and inefficiencies.

2. Need for Modernization: Comprehensive investment is required to overhaul the air traffic control infrastructure, integrating modern technologies to handle current and future demands, including drone and autonomous air taxi operations.

3. Legislative Efforts: The proposed "Big Beautiful Bill" aims to address these challenges by allocating substantial funding to modernize air traffic systems and incentivize American manufacturing in the automotive sector.

4. Lessons from Previous Projects: The discussion on California's high-speed rail project serves as a cautionary tale on the importance of effective fund allocation and project management to avoid costly delays and inefficiencies.

5. Future of Air Travel: Integration of advanced drone technologies and autonomous air taxis represents a significant shift in air travel dynamics, necessitating a robust and flexible air traffic control system.

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This episode provides a comprehensive overview of the current transportation challenges in the United States, the proposed legislative solutions, and the future direction of air travel technology. Secretary Sean Duffy offers insights into the practical steps being taken to address these issues, highlighting both the immediate actions and long-term strategies essential for improving the nation's transportation infrastructure.

Transcript

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Sean Duffy]

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[Colby Ekowitz]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Buck Sexton]

An unk?

[Ryan Seacrest]

Yep. Slaying, evidently. For not being hip, being an old dude.

[Buck Sexton]

So how do we un unk you?

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

Do it for Clay. Do it for freedom. And get great content while you're there. The Clay Travis and buck Sexton Show YouTube channel. Third hour. Clay and Buck starts right now. Let's talk big beautiful bill. It's a bill that is beautiful. It's very big. People are saying probably the biggest bill. And we're going to break down some of this. First of all, I know that there's a little bit of trouble in paradise, perhaps between the departed head of Doge. Departed from government service. Head of Doge. Elon Musk, somebody who is, I think, an incredibly talented manager and visionary in business. That's obvious. I think everyone knows that. But he has left and he was frustrated, quite a bit frustrated with the bill and some of what it does and does not do. Speaker Johnson on the House side yesterday, this is Cut five, in his very polite and an affable way, disagrees with Elon's assessment. Play five. Let me say this. It's very disappointing, okay. I've come to consider Elon a good friend. He's obviously a very intelligent person and he's done a lot of great work. With all due respect, my friend, Elon is terribly wrong about the one big beautiful bill. He says Elon is terribly wrong about it. Hmm. Ok. I have a hard time with Elon being terribly wrong about it. I think there could be a difference of opinion on it. I think, though, it's. It's asking a lot to expect us to think that Elon doesn't understand what's going where in the spreadsheet. Right. I. I'm not sure that I can get there. I don't think that that's gonna happen. Then you also have our friends like Senator Ron Johnson who comes in and hangs out with us on the program pretty regularly, tells us what's going on over on the Senate side. Here he is talking about Elon's position on this play. Cut nine. Does what Elon said give you additional.

[Sean Duffy]

Kind of help in your Quest on this.

[Stephen Miller]

Yeah, it certainly bolsters our case. He was in the inside. He showed us with President Trump how to do this, you know, contract by contract, line by line. I mean, the context is all about $22 trillion in expected deficit. By the way, that counts about $4 trillion of tax increase, which I don't want to, I don't want to incur. But if we don't incur that, you got to make up for about $4 trillion in revenue. How do you do that? You actually look at the numbers. Take the personalities out of it, take the invective out of it, take the insults out of it. Look at the cold, hard facts. If you do that, you get depressed really fast and hopefully it'll cause all of us to act.

[Buck Sexton]

Okay, so there you have Senator Johnson, we had him call in. So he made his case to all of you about what needs to happen here. But you know, this, this is a tough one because you have very, very smart people on different sides of an issue who also want the same things for the country. Right. They're working toward the same end. The challenge you have often with Democrats is that they'll say things like border security is a perfect example. It's hard to debate them because they'll say, I want a secure border, too. And I think, here's how we get there. But they're lying. They don't want a secure border. They just don't want to admit that because then they would lose power. In this case, you're talking about Republicans who want a booming economy and want fiscal sanity. The question is, how do we get there? Or what is necessary now for us to get there? And this is why, you know, there's this, there's this back and forth that's underway and there are smart people on, on, on both sides of this issue. There are people who are making a case that is intelligible to me in both ways. Stephen Miller, for example, is out there saying, look, this with reconciliation, there is no way you can change the mandatory spending that would be necessary based on the kind of numbers that Elon and others want to see cuts. You cannot change the mandatory spending under the reconciliation process. So this now goes to Senate procedure. You would need 60 votes to do what? What it seems they think Elon and others on his side of this issue would want to be done. Now, maybe Elon sees this differently, or clearly he sees it somewhat differently. I don't know if it's that he views the Senate procedure as self inflicted and therefore unnecessary. That's one version of this right. Nothing in the Constitution says you need 60 votes to do anything worthwhile. In the Senate. We have this filibuster and we have these self imposed mechanisms that slow down some of the changes and the legislative processes from having such a sweeping scope. Now, Kaitlan Collins over at the White House decided that she was going to tangle with Caroline Levitt on this issue because what do Democrats love? They love when Republicans are at odds on something because it allows them to just engage in, you know, they want to just encourage the circular firing squad as much as as much as they can. I want you to hear how White House Press Secretary Levitt handled this from Kaitlan Collins. This is cut for play it on.

[Karine Jean-Pierre]

The big beautiful bill. You said recently that it is, quote, blatantly wrong to say that it adds to the deficit. You essentially said that an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office and other scorekeepers you believe are wr, but Republicans like Ron Johnson and Rand Paul disagree. They are saying that it will add to the deficit. That is their concern. Is the White House's position that those two Republican senators are blatantly wrong?

[Buck Sexton]

Ms.

[Karine Jean-Pierre]

It is those senators. It's not news that they disagree with this president on policy and the president has vocally called them out for it and for not having their facts together. I would add the Congressional Budget Office has been historically wrong. In fact, they predicted the Trump tax cuts from the President's first term in 2017. Their prediction was wrong by half a trillion dollars. Those tax cuts had nearly a half trillion dollars more of revenue than the Congressional Budget Office scored. And I would also point out, I don't think many people know this, there hasn't been a single staffer in the entire Congressional Budget Office that has contributed to a Republican since the year 2000. But guess what? There have been many staffers within the Congressional Budget Office who have contributed to Democrat candidates and politicians every single cycle since.

[Buck Sexton]

Sounds like the CBO is politicized trash. That's what it sounds like to me. I, I haven't spent much time over there. I haven't spent any time over there. I don't know. But I do know that results speak loudly. And if the results are that they keep being wrong and keep being right, it's just like we see with the media. If you're wrong over and over again, but you're always consistently wrong in a way that helps one side politically and harms the other side politically, you're not wrong by accident. You're not wrong. And it's just the way it is. Something else is guiding that decision making process. And perhaps with the Congressional Budget Office. Certainly this is true of the economists. I always hate that when they, they love to do this, you know, CNN or ABC News or whatever. Like, well, economists say, what does that mean? That's like saying human beings who wear T shirts say what? What? Which economists who. Now I sound like, what was it? Not Scaramucci, the. Not Scaramucci, the other guy, Cohen, who is Trump's lawyer, remember with the polls? Polls? Which polls? Whose polls? Your polls.

[Molly Roberts]

Polls.

[Buck Sexton]

Whose polls? When he was on cnn, that was a pretty, that was a pretty epic CNN clip there. But yes, in fact, it is the case that they pretend that there is so much more clarity on these issues.

[Sean Duffy]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

Producer Alley says they do the same thing with climate science. It's the same thing scientists say that is always just a version of we are pushing something as a news organization and found people who have some professional pedigree that we want to leverage, who agree with us. That's all that means. Because you can always find an economist to say this or an economist to say that. And I don't mean to be mean. I'm sure some of you have economics degrees and at some level, microeconomics, supply and demand, there are things that are useful and true about economics. But if economics was a science, the way that physics is scientific, or that astronomy is rooted in science and numbers, you would be able to say, well, I know what the economy's gonna do, or you wouldn't be wrong all the time. Which economists tend to be, because there's too many factors and too many things going on for them to be predictive. They can give you a generalized snapshot of what could happen and why, but they tend not to be right. And anyway, this is yet another example of that. So part of this is I think they don't account for even just the revenue windfall that will come from the Trump tariffs. And Scott Bessen, who is a serious guy who understands how the economy works, was just saying on television a couple of days ago, he's a Treasury secretary, that China as a producer is going to have to eat some of a major portion of the cost of the tariffs. That's not something you're hearing from any. We're always told, oh my gosh, price of eggs, price of eggs. Well, they don't cry about that anymore because price of eggs is down 60% from its high. So that's not going to work as a talking point. So what are they going to freak out about now? All the stuff you're buying from China or all the stuff with the tariffs. Trump is in an ongoing negotiation on all of this. The markets, I think, have stabilized because they have figured that out. And I think what we're going to see is that if this bill is passed, it will be even better for the economy, generate more revenue and put us on a better financial footing than some of the advocates for it who aren't deeply involved in it would currently think, or rather some of the advocates for Trumpism more broadly would think. And that is my hope, and that is honestly my. My belief as well. The notion that we would be able to cut, you know, that we would pay down, let's say, a trillion or $2 trillion of the national debt this year. We, we as a country, we as Republicans, just, just don't. A majority of us just don't want to do it. It's not there. We would lose to Democrats who are insane, who are doing crazy things, who are harmful to the economy. They would be in power. They will crush us in the midterms. That is a political reality. Now. People can say the hour is so late that we have to do that. We have to just, you know, just run up against that buzzsaw and see what happens. But there is no one who knows politics in America that I am aware of at all, who thinks that we could cut a trillion or $2 trillion now this year from the debt. I'm not even talking about the deficit. The debt. And that that would not result in a huge win for Democrats and maybe the resurrection of the Democrat Party as a, as an opposition worthy of the name, which it certainly is not right now. So those are the big questions. Those are the big problems, as I see them. But I do think that this is going to be a bill that eventually people will look back on and say, wow, that actually did a lot of really good things for the economy. The fact that it is going to fully fund the border wall and border security measures alone gets me really excited. This is it. Trump will have the purse in place to do all of the things that he promised to do on the border. The money is there. The authorization is there. If this bill goes through, that's really meaningful. You know, maybe you could say it this way. If we fix the illegal alien crisis first, it's going to be easier to fix the debt later because it shows we can tackle the big things. We're a serious country. We believe in sovereignty. There is an argument to be made there. And this bill absolutely funds. It funds the wall. It funds the board all of the border measures and interior enforcement measures that we need. So very, very important stuff. Israel was forced to defend itself again yesterday after an incoming missile attack. Unfortunately, this is not new for Israeli citizens. They've been consistently under attack of one kind or another. It's a time when Israel needs friendship and support, and that's where the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews or ifcj, comes in. They're building bomb shelters to protect schoolchildren from rocket attacks. 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[Colby Ekowitz]

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[Buck Sexton]

We're going to have Secretary of Transportation Duffy joining us here shortly. So we will have a conversation with him about all things related to, well, transportation but notably the air traffic controller issues, flight delays. I am very hopeful he'll have some good things to tell us about how this stuff is getting fixed. Because the situation of just being a person who flies in this country, it is very frustrating. It is unreliable time wise for you and it's just, it's just too much. I mean I feel like of the last 10 flights I've taken, I want to say eight of them have been seriously delayed. It's just the numbers are nuts. The numbers are nuts. I've definitely had a situation where I had four flights in a row over about a week or so and they were all delayed. Four in a row, four for four, all delay. And not like by weather in one day. I mean four different flights in four different places. It's just all the man hours that are being just lit on fire by this. It's, it's craziness. So I, I, I'm looking forward to talking to him about that. We got a talk back. Speaking of talk back, Theo from Sacramento who listens out on KFBK radio play EE please.

[Sean Duffy]

My respect for you have gone up 1000%. Even more EDM music is the absolute best.

[Buck Sexton]

I was not expecting to get a shout out for liking electronic dance music, but here we are. I do like EDM and I will tell you this, it is the truth. I listen to more classical music than anything else. By far my number one. Well, depends when you catch me. But on my playlists my number one played artist is always either Mozart or Beethoven. Over the course of a year, just, just saying it's just the way. I grew up with classical music so I'm a big fan. But I do listen to some electronic dance music too. So I will occasionally go from, you know, listening to Mozart or, or Schubert or Haydn to just switch right over to Paul Oakenfold or something, you know, and that's just the way, that's just the way that it goes. But I've got to say, yeah, see team knows that I've, I switch it up. You know, I like to keep people on their toes. I also, I don't even know what the music is that I like. Like how you would describe this. What, what do you call Rufus Du Sol and, and Bob Moses and what is that genre? I just feel like it's people my age from the, I don't know from the east coast. Like listen to this stuff. I don't know what you. Is it. Is it like new? It's not alt and it's not like alternative rock or something. I don't know what you even call the music I listen to, so. But I gave you a couple bands there that I like that I've been to. I actually took Carey to see both of those live before we got engaged. So I'm thinking those are the two last live shows that I went to for music. But yeah, I should probably go to the symphony sometime down here in Miami. But yeah, edm, electronic dance music, it's fun. It's great for working out too. It's good stuff. Rufus du Sol is electronic dance. Yeah. So maybe that is EDM then. I guess it sort of falls under that category. So I like that stuff. I grew up around a lot of hip hop music in New York City. It was played at all the parties and everything else. I am not a hip hop person. I do not listen to hip hop music anymore and have not for a long time. So yeah, just getting into a little bit of a music genres discussion today. I do find that it's important to set up a good place in your house where you can listen to music. And I'm just going to tell you, just listen to more classical music. I know it seems like such a. Just trust me on that one. Just put it on in the background. Just listen to more classical music. You own a house. You know it comes with regular maintenance. One of the parts of your home that will require your attention are the rain gutters. As sturdy as they might be, they constantly fill up with debris, the kind that clog up when heavy rain pours down. Thankfully, there's leaffilter, America's number one gutter protection company. When your gutters are clogged, the eventual downpour is enough rain to clog those gutters. Causing overflow can lead to costly damage. The expense comes in the form of repairing your walls, your foundation footing, leading to sizable renovation work. Protect your home now with leaffilter right now you can save up to 30% off your entire order. Go to leaffilter.com buck and get started. Leaffilter's trusted pros will clean out, realign and seal your gutters before installing leaffilter's award winning and patented technology trusted by over a million homeowners. Schedule your free inspection and get up to 30 off your entire [e-mail] Buck that's Leafilter.com Buck. See your representative for Warranty details. We've been trying to track him down for a bit, but he's really busy. He's finally with us. We're very pleased. Transportation secretary Sean Duffy. Mr. Secretary, welcome on the program.

[Sean Duffy]

Hey, man, this, I think this is my inaugural visit to the program. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

[Buck Sexton]

Absolutely. We're honored to have you. Clay sends his regards. He is, is on the golf course today. I'm hearing rumors that he hit it 340 yards from the back tees. I don't know if that's true or not, but this is what people are saying. But tell me this. Let's, let's, let's just leave the play.

[Sean Duffy]

On the golf course the day I show up.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, let's, let's do this, though. Tell me what's going on. Particularly I'm a New Yorker. At least I grew up in New York, so I spent plenty of time in Newark Airport. It has been a total mess. The air traffic control situation seems like it's a disaster that you inherited here. And is it getting better? What is the problem? Why are we constantly having all these flight delays that aren't weather related? How does it get flat fakes? Get a lot of frustrated flyers out there who are hoping you're going to help clear all this nonsense up. What's going on?

[Sean Duffy]

Yes. So first we have to recognize this has been a problem that's been burning for a long time. But it was coming to a head over the last four years, over the last administration. Government watchdog groups told Biden and Buddha Judge, listen, you're going to have real problems. You need to fix the air traffic control system. And they didn't do anything. So they've left it to us. And what you saw in Newark is kind of a culmination of several of the problems that we have in the airspace and they happened at the same time. So in Newark, you had three things. One, they shut down a Runway to repave it. Right. They opened it up 13 days before schedule grade on the Port Authority. But the two issues remaining are issues that we see throughout the whole system were 3,000 air traffic controllers short nationwide. And so you're seeing a lack of controllers in the Philly TRACON that controls the Newark airspace. And then we're having telecom issues. Our infrastructure for air traffic control still uses copper wires. Nobody uses copper wires anymore. Everyone's on fiber. So we were having telecom issues in the Philly tracon and we resolved that issue on, on the, on the, on the copper wire. But verizon moved incredibly fast. Our partner there and laid brand new fiber between Philly and New York. And so it's not, by the way, we're still testing that fiber. You want to be ultra safe before you switch it over. That'll be tested through probably the end of June, early July. And then there's 22 controllers in the Philly Tracheis. Six of them are out right now, five for the trauma that they had because of the outages from late April, early May. One is on sicklead. We brought in 22 new controllers to train in Philly right now. Now, when I say a new controller, what I mean is this could be an air traffic controller who is certified in a different airspace, say Denver. If they come to the Philly TRACON to control a different airspace, they have to get recertified on that specific airspace. And so most of these are experienced controllers, but it's going to take them time to get certified. So the problems of telecom and the problems of the Runway and the problems of the controllers, you're going to have a slow roll of continual improvement. But you were seeing and giving you a lot of information here, Buck, but what you saw was this. We reduced the capacity at Newark. So all these flights were scheduled, but they weren't fine because we reduced the capacity and you saw delays and cancellations, and it was a disaster for a couple weeks. What we've done is we've got all the airlines to agree that we're going to reduce our capacity. So if you book in Newark now, you actually fly. And that's what's key. No one wants to go to the airport and wait four hours and be canceled. So because of the agreement that we have at Newark, everyone says, okay, we're not going to have as many flights coming out of here, but the ones we do have will actually go. So we're on the path to resolving it. But all these solutions take time because you can't snap your fingers and create more controllers and you can't, you know, quickly run fiber and then, you know, quickly test it. But we're doing it and it's going to get better in Newark. But give me some grace.

[Buck Sexton]

Now, nationwide. Mr. Secretary, there's also. It feels like. And you see a lot of people complaining about it on X. I'm sure just flight delays have. It feels like the problem is constantly getting worse, not better. So you've talked this about Newark, but just in general, across the country, how do we get it so that especially a lot of these routes where people are Flying, you know, and there's a 60 or 70% delay rate. Some of these delay rates just seems unconscionable. Is that a function of airlines got to scale back the flights? Is it air traffic control? How do we get it so that people can really believe credibly if there's clear skies? Okay. I'm not talking about if there's tornadoes or crazy weather, but if the weather is fine, their plane's probably going to take off when it's supposed to, and they're probably going to get off it when they're supposed to.

[Sean Duffy]

Yeah. So we are using equipment that is, you know, 25, 35 years old in whether it's the towers that are at the airports. The TRACON is the next ring out from the tower. It's really old equipment and it's really old telecom. And so I'm going to need a lot of money from Congress. It should have been done a decade ago. It wasn't. And we have to basically gut and build brand new our air traffic control system with the best technology in the world. We can do it really quickly. It's going to take three years. If the Congress clears the committing process. For me, if I don't have to go through NEPA, that just, you know, stacks, you know, you know, month upon month or year upon year, they clear that for me, we're going to be able to do it fast. And what you'll see is you can handle greater capacity with the new system that we're going to build. And as new technology becomes available, you can deploy it off this new system to get even more efficiencies. Instead of having the flip phone that you can send as many updates as you want to your Razer flip phone, if that's in your genre. It wasn't mine. It's not going to update it is what it is. It's old, it's antiquated. That's what we have right now. But if I build you an iPhone 15, you can deploy a ton of technology off of it. We're going to build you the iPhone 15 that you can build technology off of. And you have to think about that. We're going to have more air travel, but it's going to get more complicated because we're going to deploy in the next years. You're going to see drone technology expand and services expand throughout the country, where you're going to get Amazon deliveries, you're going to get your, your Uber eats, you're going to get a hot cup of coffee from Starbucks. If you shop, if you get your coffee at Starbucks, all by a drone. And we're going to have evitals. These are like the Ubers in the other. They're big drones that you can hold, you know, three, four people. And you're going to see those deploy in the airspace.

[Buck Sexton]

How far are we from that, Mr. Secretary? Because that sounds pretty cool.

[Sean Duffy]

It's very cool. So they're testing these, these evitals right now. They're, they're. I think you see the technology advance Orchard, which is one of the technologies, is actually has a contract with the Olympics in 2028. And it's not just to showcase their technology. They actually have to use that technology to move people around all the different sites at the LA Olympics. So it's moving very fast. The FAA has to certify it, make sure it's safe. Eventually you'll see, you won't have. These will not be piloted. They can be autonomous or. Right now, in certain parts of the country, like in Texas, the drone deliveries are happening in certain parts of the country right now. Really successful. People love them. And what they've done with drones is obviously the noise becomes a concern. They've done really well innovating on props to reduce the noise. You barely know what's in the sky when it's hovering over your house, dropping product or set product down.

[Buck Sexton]

That's very cool. Well, that's looking forward to having that going on. But obviously, if it's tough to have air traffic control for planes, if we put thousands, tens of thousands, however many drones and air taxis in the sky, that's gonna, I assume that's gonna result in some interesting air traffic issues as well. So hopefully that'll all get squared away. Tell us about the report you just released. California's high speed rail. $16 billion, 17 years, no track laid. How is that possible?

[Sean Duffy]

Yeah, it's a great question. So first, I'm a conservative. I would love to have high speed rail in America. I think it would be great if we could do it. This was the first big project and like liberals, seem to always deliver the same results, which are not very good. This was supposed to be done years ago and it was supposed to cost a little over $20 billion. They haven't laid any track. They've spent billions. They've now told us that they can complete a truncated portion of the project by 2033. We looked at their data, they've given us 80,000 pages of documents. They just can't do it. And so they have about $4 billion of grants that have been given by the DOT and it's our philosophy that if we give them that 4, if we let that $4 billion go, that's 4 billion you don't have for other good projects around the country. And I think the taxpayer expects us to spend their money well and not to invest in boondoggles.

[Buck Sexton]

And so where did the money, I got to ask Mr. Secretary, where. $16 billion. It's a lot of money for a state level project. What was it spent on?

[Sean Duffy]

So they were, they were buying land. Right. And by the way, there's, there is an eyebrow raised from me that how was the land, who was buying land along the route of this, of this proposed high speed rail and how much money did they make and are they connected to politicians? All those questions need to be asked and looked at is, you know, was there any criminal activity? I don't know, but I think it should be looked at at the project.

[Buck Sexton]

Now.

[Sean Duffy]

It's, it's out over 10 years and if they did the full project, it was supposed to be tens of billions, it would be $130 billion to actually build it. And they still don't know that they can do it in any specific time frame. So you have to recognize that it's a nice concept, but liberals don't spend money well and they haven't done it well on this project. And so at what point does the government cut bay and say, you know what, we're not going to do this one, but maybe there's other good projects across the country that we could invest in that would, that would serve the population well.

[Buck Sexton]

And tell us about what's in the. Assuming it gets passed more or less as, as is what is in the big beautiful bill that will go to transportation that will make a difference to the American people.

[Sean Duffy]

So for us, we, there's $12 billion for this brand new air traffic control system. That's not going to be enough. You got to think about this. This is the biggest, it's nationwide infrastructure. It is the most important infrastructure that we're going to build on in the last several decades for sure, because it's such a big part of our economy. People fly, whether it's business or pleasure. We move a lot of products through the air. And so we have 12 billion. We'll need more than that at a later point. They're going to have to give it to us. One of the problems Buck, in the past is the Congress would give tranches of money to the FAA and then the priority would change or the Administration changes and they never got the money. So we need to get the money up front. So 12 billion is a nice start. We can begin the project. But this year I need to get the rest of the money and then in that secondary bill we can hopefully get the, the clearing the deck of the permits. I also think it's important making sure we don't get a massive tax increase. That's big for us in the big beautiful bill. Also, there's a provision that if you buy a brand new car that was made in America, you can write off up to $10,000 of your interest payments on the vehicle. So again, incentivizing people to buy new cars. The president's doing all kinds of things to deliver on the promises that he made during the campaign. Which by the way is nice when we have presidents that, that actually do what they say or try to accomplish what they promised.

[Buck Sexton]

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Sir, thank you so much for being with us. And please fix all the things.

[Sean Duffy]

We appreciate it and the potholes too, but right on your house. I got you.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

You don't know me yet, but I bet we have something in common. We all wish we were better functioning humans. Maybe figure out how to sleep better, have more meaningful relationships, cook more that search for practical knowledge. It's my job at the Washington Post. I host a podcast called Try this. Every episode is like an audio class and we learn together. I'm Christina Quinn. Now you know me. Check out Try this wherever you're listening.

[Molly Roberts]

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[Drew Goins]

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[Molly Roberts]

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[Buck Sexton]

Closing up shop today on Clay and Buck. Thank you so much for hanging out as always. I'll be back with you tomorrow. Clay is traveling tomorrow and then I think actually I'll be out Friday and getting ready for a weekend. I'm gonna be doing a lot of, I think firearms training this weekend. So that will be fun. Oh, as always, I'll have some stories for you about that one, I am sure. You know, trying to get good. You know what I mean? Just trying to get better all the time. I'm a student who's trying to learn more of the Way of the Gun. And we have some, some really fun stuff actually coming in. Charles Cook is an old friend of mine from the Real News at the Blaze days. He's over National Review. He does a really good job on this one, I think. Karine Jean Pierre has a book, the title of the book of the White House Press Secretary under Biden is Independent. A Look inside a Broken White House outside the party Lines. And Karine Jean Pierre is now getting headlines for leaving the Democratic Party. She's not saying she's an independent. You were the White House press secretary. You were like the chief propagandist of the Biden White House. I know you could say any, any press secretary. That's somewhat the job, but it's. You're a propagandist if you're saying things that you really know are not true, right. You're just going to do whatever. And Charles Cook points out that from 2020-20, 24 green. Jean Pierre's take was everything Biden was correct. Everything Biden did was correct. Everything Biden did was correct. And then 20, 25, he loses. Actually, I'm more of an independent. Buy my book. Totally agree with Charles on this one. It is absurd. Absurd. But this is what's going on. Podcast listener Jeff, this is aa. The pronunciation police have come for me. Let's hear it. Hey, Buck, that town that you were trying to pronounce is not Olath. It's Olathe. I used to live there, though. Just wanted to let you know. Have a good one. Thank you, my friend. Olathe. The thriving metropolis of Olathe. I do learn some new towns on this show, so that's always fun. There's a lot of towns in this country and some of them have some pretty funky names. But I'm sure Olithe is lovely this time of year. And that is a name that I shall remember. Got off easy. I got off with a warning from the pronunciation police this time, so that's good. Back with you tomorrow. Gonna be a rocking show. Make sure you go check out the Clam Buck Podcast network. So many great shows there. So many great hosts. Things you can only hear on the podcast network. And we'll be back with you tomorrow. Talk to you.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

I'm Molly Roberts. And I'm Drew Goins. Each Friday on Impromptu, we talk through the questions we can't stop thinking about.

[Drew Goins]

Do we need to rethink how much we drink?

[Buck Sexton]

Why are companies really asking workers to.

[Sean Duffy]

Come back to the office?

[Buck Sexton]

Does boycotting a business actually work? Should we quit social media? We're here when the news gets personal and the headlines hit home. Join Molly and me every Friday on Impromptu from Washington Post Opinions. Find Impromptu wherever you get your podcasts. The following heartwarming yet informative scene is brought to you by Trust and will son.

[Sean Duffy]

Your grandpa and I used to work.

[Clay Travis]

On this car together.

[Buck Sexton]

And when I'm gone.

[Sean Duffy]

I want you to have it.

[Buck Sexton]

Wow. Thanks, dad. Doesn't count. What you need is a will. Luckily, trust and will makes it easy. Designed by attorneys, but customized by you, you can easily create a state specific, legally valid document that actually counts. Now let's let the engine do the talking. Am I right? Start your [e-mail] use offer code count for 20% off and make it count. Trust and Will is an online estate planning service. For details, see trustandwill.com the Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, the unexpected, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves.

[Sean Duffy]

This medal is for the men who.

[Buck Sexton]

Went down that day. On Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. You'll hear about these heroes and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand?

[Buck Sexton]

We're not boring. A lot of news is boring and tedious and depressing and makes you ang you don't want to live your life like that. Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty. We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth.

[Ryan Seacrest]

And help you figure out this crazy modern world.

[Buck Sexton]

How about something about a comedic tone? We have a winner.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Listen to Armstrong. You get it on Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.