RESEARCH & THEORY CAN A CABINET OFFICIAL INNOVATE? Entrepreneurial Politics and National Transportation Policy

This article examines the range and limitations ofstrategies available to a cabinet secretary entrepreneur to take chargeofan agency andto set the agenda ina particular policy area. U.S. Secretary ofTransportation Samuel Skinner's attempt to reinvig-orate his office andframe the policy debate surrounding the reauthorization ofthe Surface Transportation Act between 1989 and 1991 through the development ofa National Transportation Policy provides the basis for this analysis. T he United States's transportation system is confronted with several serious problems. Theseproblems include traffic congestion, infrastructure decay, the effects of transportation on the environment, and the cost that each portends for policy makers (U.S. Department of Transportation [U.S. DOTJ, 1989). Consider the following: • Cars spent nearly 1 billion hours in delays; highway congestion is expected to increase in 15 years to almost 4 billion hours, making today's daily commute 2.5 times longer in less than 10 years. The cost ofdelays in the nation's major metropolitan areas is estimated to be more than $34 billion. • More than half the nation's bridges are in disrepair. The cost to fix and maintain the nation's highways and bridges will cost approximately $117 billion annually