美国参议院批准赵小兰任美国运输部长

Elaine Chao, a former top U.S. labor official, was sworn in on Tuesday to lead the U.S. Transportation Department, which overseas aviation, vehicle, train and pipeline safety. Chao, a former U.S. labor secretary and deputy transportation secretary, took office hours after the U.S. Senate voted 93 to 6 to confirm her.

She will be a key player in President Donald Trump\'s Cabinet if his administration pushes ahead with a major infrastructure spending program.

The Transportation Department has a $75 billion annual budget and about 60,000 employees. It includes the Federal Aviation Administration, which handles air traffic control.

Chao is the wife of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position.

At her confirmation hearing this month, Chao declined to take positions on a number of issues, including whether air traffic control jobs should be privatized, concerns over the safety of shipments of crude oil by rail, foreign airlines\' push to move into the U.S. market and regulation of developing technologies.

赵小兰将在川普总统新建和重振美国基础设施的计划中发挥重大作用。

美国运输部年度预算750亿美元，有大约6万名雇员，负责空管的联邦航空管理局也属于运输部。

赵小兰的丈夫是现任参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔，她本人是第一位担任部长级官员的亚裔女性。

在本月举行的提名听证会上，赵小兰在一些重要问题上没有表明立场，包括空管是否应该私有化，原油通过铁路运输的安全隐患，外国航空公司进军美国市场的努力，以及对正在开发的新技术的管理。