Buttigieg, who has been working to shore up support for President Biden’s massive infrastructure spending packages, is facing increased scrutiny about how to handle delays and backlogs caused by the country’s frayed supply chains as the holiday season fast approaches .
“Pete Buttigieg was completely unqualified to serve as Secretary of Transportation. But Biden still picked him,” Sen. Tom Cotton wrote on Twitter earlier this week. “Now, Pete is absent during a transportation crisis that is hurting working-class Americans.”
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The Arkansas Republican accused Biden of only choosing Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to lead the DOT because he threw his weight behind Biden’s bid for the presidency after unsuccessfully challenging him in 2020’s Democratic primaries.
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Cotton shared an op-ed by conservative opinion columnist Joe Concha, published this week in The Hill, attacking Buttigieg for lacking the qualifications required to stem the growing problems with the U.S. supply chain, which has been stretched thin as ports endure massive congestion and companies struggle with labor problems.
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Sen. Rick Scott is calling for Buttigieg, along with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, to testify before a Senate committee, a spokeswoman for the Florida Republican told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.
Republicans have lashed the administration and the Department of Transportation for putting more focus on passing his multi trillion-dollar infrastructure and social spending legislation rather than addressing the supply crisis head-on.
“There is more that the Department of Transportation can and should be doing to help address ongoing supply chain issues related to the pandemic,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a member of the Senate’s Transportation Committee, demanded in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
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“We’re well over a year into this, and I’m concerned that the Biden administration seems more focused on pushing Congress to massively expand the federal bureaucracy rather than using their existing authorities to help American businesses and consumers get back to normal,” she noted.
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The White House convened a meeting with several representatives from the country’s top transportation and shipping unions, officials from major corporations, and port envoys to discuss how to alleviate the strain. The administration also announced that the Port of Los Angeles, mired in delays and backlogs, will begin operating on a 24/7 basis.
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“This is a largely private-sector system, and a global one at that, but there are a lot of steps that we can take as an administration, as an honest broker,” Buttigieg told CNN on Wednesday.
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Buttigieg is also dealing with travel issues. Last weekend, Southwest Airlines faced thousands of canceled flights and delays, which it attributed to weather and traffic control issues. GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee hit at him and the administration for its handling of the situation, which some fear could be replicated during the rush of holiday travel thanks to the federal vaccine mandate.
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