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Tags: pete buttigieg | ohio | climate | woke | mcconnell

Buttigieg Hits Back on McConnell Criticism of 'Woke Initiatives'

By Peter Malbin | Tuesday, 28 February 2023 05:16 PM EST

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been embroiled in controversies related to air travel delays, the FAA, government jet use, and train derailments.

On Tuesday he pushed back after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized him for focusing on what the GOP leader called "woke initiatives" instead of the freight-train derailment in Palestine, Ohio.

"Even amidst a catalog of crises on his watch, from this and other recent train derailments to the meltdown in air travel back during the holiday season, Secretary Buttigieg has seemed more interested in pursuing press coverage for woke initiatives and climate nonsense than in attending to basic elements of his day job," McConnell said on the Senate floor, The Hill reported.

Buttigieg fought back on "CNN This Morning," saying McConnell "was there celebrating" the Brent Spence Bridge connecting Kentucky and Ohio over the Ohio River, a Biden administration infrastructure initiative affecting the Senate minority leader's home state.

McConnell and other senators and governors joined President Biden as he touted funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law during a trip to the area in January, The Hill noted.

"I would not call the Brent Spence Bridge a 'woke initiative,' " Buttigieg said Tuesday. "As for climate, climate is not nonsense. Dealing with climate change is one of the biggest things that people like me, and people like him, will be remembered for after we're gone."

The Transportation Secretary stressed that McConnell, as caucus leader in the Senate, "could be a partner" to the administration "in making sure that there are fewer rail disasters in the future."

"As I mentioned earlier, the rail — the freight rail industry — has wielded a lot of power here in Washington. I would love to see Leader McConnell join us in standing up to them. There are specific things that could be done right now … he could work with us right now," Buttigieg said.

He listed raising the cap on fines against railroads in violation of safety regulations and speeding up the timeline for bringing in tank cars fortified against spillage in the case of a derailment, The Hill noted.

"So if [McConnell] is serious about this, if anyone, Republican or Democrat or independent, is serious about this, they can work with us today," Buttigieg said.

The embattled Transportation Secretary has come under more criticism since the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives.

Politico wrote in January: "In his first two years in the usually backwater Cabinet post, Buttigieg has reaped no shortage of political benefits, from hopscotching around battleground states, handing out infrastructure checks to making hundreds of hits on late-night television and local news. But lately he's been seeing the downsides of running a sprawling department as a rising Democratic Party star."

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