DOT Secretary LaHood to Step Down

January 29, 2013 - Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has announced he would resign from that position after serving in the administration since January 2009.

"I have let President Obama know that I will not serve a second term as secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation," he said in a statement to DOT staff on Tuesday morning.

LaHood plans to stay on until his successor is confirmed.

Before LaHood, 67, joined the administration, he represented Illinois' 18th Congressional district for seven terms. He attended AirVenture Oshkosh once, in 2010, and came away impressed with the event.

"People don't just come here to showcase their planes; they obviously come here to learn," he said in an interview with EAA's AirVenture Today.