WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg, is pledging to carry out the administration’s ambitious agenda to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.

Buttigieg is appearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for his confirmation hearing on Thursday.

In his prepared opening remarks, Buttigieg says that implementing Biden's vision is a “generational opportunity” to create new jobs, fight economic inequality and stem climate change, with the Transportation Department playing a central role.

The 39-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and former Democratic presidential candidate pledges to work closely with senators to deliver what he calls “the innovation and growth that America needs.”

Should Buttigieg be confirmed, he would become the first openly gay person to be confirmed to a Cabinet position.

As of Thursday morning, just one of Biden's cabinet members had been confirmed by the Senate, director of national intelligence Avril Haines. She's the first woman to ever hold the role.