Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, said on Newsmax the only thing he wants to hear from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the train derailment is his resignation.
"I think we need to get somebody qualified to be the secretary of transportation and somebody who's going to focus on doing the job and frankly that hasn't happened adequately for the Department of Transportation so far," Davidson said Thursday during an appearance on "National Report."
"Look there are some extra resources that were slow in coming from the federal government; the response in East Palestine was particularly bad, and so hopefully that awakened the resources that we've got here to pay attention to it at the federal level. I know that it's created a burning platform in Congress, so we are having hearings, and I think it is important to have the hearings, understand the problem before we start trying to solve it."
The state of Ohio on Wednesday sued Norfolk Southern over the derailment of a freight train carrying toxic chemicals through the village of East Palestine last month, calling the incident "recklessly endangering" the residents and the state's natural resources.
Buttigieg in early March admitted he got it wrong on the train derailment response, telling CNN he should have gone to East Palestine sooner.
"I could get technical readouts, information about the response. But I think it was important to hear and see how the community was responding, what they were worried about it just a different way that you can sense on paper," Buttigieg said, talking about the twisted metal and smell of chemicals in the air. "It just feels different."
Buttigieg visited the city a day after former President Donald Trump went to the town.
Davidson, who serves on the House Financial Services Committee, during his Newsmax appearance also touched on the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, saying SVB "failed uniquely because they've had very poor risk management."
"But if you look at Signature Bank, they weren't yet in default on anything. The state regulators closed in, and there really is concern that regulators are basically using a coercive tactic to try to cause banks to fail or force them out into other consolidations," he said.
"So, we're looking at the regulators, too. How did you miss what was going on in Silicon Valley Bank, and what exactly are you doing across the sector? The hearings are being put together, and the documents are being requested, and I think we're going to get a very thorough look at the banking sector."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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