The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) historically has
been less prone to large shifts in policy between presidential
administrations. Although President Donald Trump and
President-Elect Joe Biden each nominated a Secretary of
Transportation from his own party, before that, Presidents Barack
Obama and George W. Bush each nominated a member of the opposing
party. Within DOT, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration's (FMCSA) leadership and policies do not
generally break from this largely bipartisan approach.
For example, when the Trump Administration took control of the
FMCSA, the Obama-era rule requiring that driver hours of service be
recorded by electronic logging device (ELD), rather than paper
logbook, had not yet gone into effect. The Owner-Operator
Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) – a group that
generally comprises many members of President Trump's base
– had fought vigorously against the ELD rule. Despite years
of effort to implement the
