Pete Hoekstra, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Donald Trump's selection of Elaine Chao for transportation secretary Tuesday is a "very, very solid pick."
"I think it just falls in line with what Mr. Trump has been doing in putting together a solid cabinet," Hoekstra told "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth. "We're going to be seeing a lot of activity coming out of the Transportation Department in innovative ways with his infrastructure proposal, which I think will lean heavily on public private partnerships.
"She's got the experience, she's got the credentials to be a very, very good secretary of transportation."
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Chao is the former labor secretary and wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. She served under President George W. Bush from 2001 through 2009 as labor secretary and also worked as the deputy secretary of transportation from 1989 to 1991 under George H.W. Bush.
Hoekstra, who served in Congress for 18 years and currently serves as a Shillman Senior Fellow at the Investigative Project specializing in national security, international relations, global terrorism and cyber security, also said Tom Price, Trump's choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services, is going to do "a phenomenal job."
"He's picking a fighter in this area," Hoekstra said. "Why? Because he wants to dismantle Obamacare and put it back in the hands of the American citizens, so they can pick their doctors, they can pick their healthcare and those types of things."
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