Trump transportation secretary nominee tells Sen. Cantwell I-5 Bridge replacement funding will come, sort of

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Transportation on Wednesday told Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., that he “would anticipate honoring” billions of dollars the department committed for the replacement of the Interstate 5 Bridge.

The exchange came amid growing anxiety, both regionally and around the country, about whether the new administration will honor President Joe Biden’s commitments.

During the Senate confirmation hearing for nominee, longtime reality TV star and former Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy, Cantwell asked twice if he would honor the Department of Transportation’s previous commitments to the project.

Duffy said “yes” but hedged both times, first saying, “That are underway? Yes.” Then, he said he would expect to follow through “especially if the law has been followed and the agreements are being met.”

Cantwell celebrated the exchange in a statement that said she “secured a commitment from Sean Duffy … to honor the federal funding that’s been allocated by the Biden administration to projects already underway, including replacing the I-5 Bridge between Vancouver and Portland,” the statement said.

The bridge replacement project has secured a total of $2.1 billion in funding of its estimated $5 billion to $7.5 billion price tag.

But that money comes from Biden’s $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law; and there has been increasing worry that the Trump administration may reject commitments made under the law.

After Trump’s November win, the leader of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, Greg Johnson, said he is confident the project will continue to progress because it’s nonpartisan.

“We think that the Trump administration is going to be amenable to the discussions of, ‘How can you make this corridor more effective and more efficient going into the future?’ We think that this is a good project under any administration,” he said.

At Duffy’s confirmation hearing, he also promised to look into Boeing’s safety issues, reduce regulations and not interfere with ongoing agency investigations into Tesla, Trump mega-funder Elon Musk’s electric car company, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

The former Wisconsin congressman’s confirmation is still pending.