Two Democratic members of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday pressed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to explain a family road trip that was paid for by several corporate sponsors whose businesses fall under the purview of his department. The trip, filmed for a web video series, drew sharp criticism at a budget hearing.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the ranking Democrat on a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, listed the companies that financed the vacation and questioned the optics of those arrangements. "Your vacation was paid for by Boeing, Toyota , United Airlines, Enterprise, Shell, Royal Caribbean Group," she said, noting that the Department of Transportation regulates those donors and others. "This road trip doesn’t smell right," Gillibrand added. "I think it’s wrong, and I think you should explain to the American people why you should spend your time and why you should be getting a vacation that is paid for by companies that you regulate."
Senator Patty Murray raised similar objections, calling attention to the regulatory authority the department holds over companies such as Toyota with respect to safety recalls. "This show is incredibly out of touch," Murray said, pointing to instances where USDOT has oversight over whether an automaker would be required to carry out safety actions. Toyota declined to comment.
Duffy pushed back against both senators, accusing them of hypocrisy for accepting political donations. He defended the trip on multiple grounds, saying no taxpayer funds were used to finance it and that a career ethics official had approved the arrangements. He described the series as part of a broader effort to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday and to promote road travel.
The road trip was documented across 24 days and included stops that ranged from the White House and Fenway Park in Boston to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and sites in Philadelphia and Montana. The footage was edited into a five-part series to be published on YouTube and included shorter one- to two-day getaways spread over eight months, in addition to his children’s nine-day spring break in April.
Addressing questions about compensation, Duffy said neither he nor his family received salary or production royalties from the show. "No one gets anything from me," he said of the companies that sponsored the event, and reiterated that Congress had directed the department to encourage tourism and travel.
An advocacy group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed an ethics complaint suggesting the arrangement may have violated federal gift and travel rules and urged the Transportation Department Office of Inspector General to investigate. The complaint also noted that a Toyota vehicle is prominently featured in a promotional video for the series.
At the hearing, both senators also cautioned that recent energy market developments could affect Americans' travel plans this summer. They pointed to a spike in oil prices linked to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East - specifically the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran - which could deter some from taking road trips. Murray additionally observed that surging jet fuel costs have increased the price of air travel this summer.
The exchange underscored the tensions that can arise when public officials accept outside funding for public-facing projects, particularly when the funders have regulatory relationships with the official’s agency. The ethics complaint now seeks further review by the department’s inspector general to determine whether federal rules were breached.