Paul Wiedfeld Stepping Down, Samantha Biddle to Serve as Acting Transportation Secretary
Earlier this month, Maryland’s Secretary of Transportation Paul Wiedefeld announced he will be leaving his role, effective on Aug. 1. Deputy Secretary Samantha Biddle will be filling the role on an interim basis.
“Secretary Wiedefeld brought decades of expertise to our team, and he used that wisdom to cultivate a new generation of talent,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said in a statement. “Samantha Biddle has the experience, instincts, and knowledge to carry forward the baton of service at the Maryland Department of Transportation. I look forward to continuing our work together as she takes on this new acting role.”
The governor also thanked Weidfeld for his “distinguished service over the last two and a half years.”
“Under Paul’s leadership, we’ve made it easier for Marylanders to get from where they live to where opportunity lies, and laid the foundation for a more competitive, affordable state for all,” Moore said.
There will be a national search for Wiedefeld’s official replacement.
“We thank him for his tireless work,” said Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller. “As we launch a nationwide search for his successor, we are committed to finding a leader ready to meet the urgent needs of our transportation systems.”
Wiedefeld, currently the vice president of the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials (NASTO), will become president of NASTO next month.
Prior to this role, he served as the general manager and CEO of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) from 2015 to 2022 and as CEO of the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport for 10 years.
Wiedefeld is the latest Cabinet secretary to depart their role, following shortly after the resignation of Vincent Schiraldi, former Department of Juvenile Services secretary.
With a long career in transportation, Wiedefeld said he is thankful for the opportunity to have served in such an important role for Marylanders. However, he also noted that he desires a job with more flexibility.
“It’s definitely retirement from a 24/7 job. There’s a number of things people talk to me about, universities, nonprofits, boards and consulting, to be frank, you know? So I’m very fortunate. I have different avenues there, if I want to pursue them, all or none,” said Wiedefeld in a recent interview with Maryland Matters.
Trump Administration Announces Plans to Close Beltsville Agriculture Site, Relocate Workers
The Trump administration announced plans to relocate over half of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s staff in the D.C. metropolitan area to cities around the country, a move local lawmakers are calling yet another blow to Prince George’s economy and job outlook.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins is also planning to close the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) and several other local sites in coming years. These jobs will be relocated to North Carolina, Utah, Missouri and Indiana.
Maryland’s congressional delegation, excluding Eastern Shore Congressman Andy Harris (R), called on Congress and the judicial system to block the proposed reorganization of the Department of Agriculture.
“The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) is the foundation of our country’s excellence in agricultural research, with its scientists working for more than 100 years on the front lines of protecting public health and supporting farmers and farming across the country,” the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter. “Shuttering BARC and uprooting its workforce will undercut its critical mission, endanger public safety, and unnecessarily waste taxpayer dollars. Clearly, the Trump administration has not thought through the costs or consequences of this misguided decision.”
Maryland Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey — who represents District 4, a congressional district with the highest proportion of federal workers in the nation — praised BARC employees for their decades of research and questioned the benefits of closing the research site.
“They are shutting down projects that the American public needs to have moved forward, they are taking services away from the public that they all desperately need. It’s a horrible way to do it. It’s been very damaging to people, and I think we desperately need a change of course,” said Ivey.
County Councilmember Calvin Hawkins (D-At Large) also strongly criticized the decision to close BARC and other federal plans that affect Prince Georgians.
“The impending closure of BARC, a signature longtime national research facility in Prince George’s County, in conjunction with the decision to cancel the FBI Headquarters relocation to Greenbelt, Maryland, shows that President Donald Trump is using the federal government to punish Marylanders for voting for Democrats,” said Hawkins in a July 24 statement. “It is an unethical abuse of power for political retribution, and it also exhibits a callous disregard for the lives of thousands of USDA employees and families who will now have to either uproot their lives or leave their jobs.”
He accused Trump of “blatant partisan politics” by shuttering the BARC site.
“President Trump is the first president in my lifetime not to understand this simple concept of our democracy and we are all the poorer for it,” Hawkins continued. “I urge and have full confidence that our outstanding federal delegation will fight this unjustified political decision to harm the State of Maryland and Prince George’s County.”
