Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told Newsmax on Tuesday that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg "seems awfully late to this situation" and "disinterested" in helping the people of eastern Ohio — after a 150-car train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed Feb. 3 around East Palestine.
"Congress is going to definitely do an investigation here," Biggs said during an appearance on "American Agenda" with hosts Bob Sellers and Katrina Szish.
"We want to know what happened," said Biggs. "But Pete Buttigieg is talking, instead of this, he's talking about whether there's enough people of color in construction worker jobs getting grants from the federal government."
"It's just another example of disconnect," Biggs continued. "We need him on the ground, we need him there talking about what they're going to do to remediate this situation and investigate what happened, so we can prevent this from happening again."
Calling Biden administration officials "ideologues," Biggs said these people will exploit every situation to "further their ideology or their woke doctrine."
"But if there's a real crisis that impacts real American people, they're going to let it go," the Arizona Republican said. "They seem disinterested — I guess that's the word I would use with regard to this. It takes [Buttigieg] 10 days to even respond, and I say this guy is just simply disinterested in what's going on and in a portion of Ohio that will actually have ramifications for people, not just in that area, but spreading out.
Biggs continued: "If this stuff invokes cancer on people, this could have life-changing ramifications. And so, when you talk about this lack of interest and failure to participate in cleaning this up, don't forget [Buttigieg] was the guy that oversaw this massive supply chain disaster, when you had ships sitting in the harbor at Long Beach in L.A.
"They couldn't get in because [Buttigieg] simply was so disinterested, he wasn't going to do anything to ameliorate the situation," added Biggs.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said that, as of Wednesday, the chemical spill caused by the derailment has killed an estimated 3,500 small fish across 7 1/2 miles of streams.
One resident of North Lima, more than 10 miles from East Palestine, told WKBN-TV of Youngstown that her five hens and rooster died suddenly on Tuesday.
And rail operator Norfolk Southern had reportedly burned train cars carrying vinyl chloride — a flammable gas — the day before to prevent an explosion.
The EPA classifies vinyl chloride as a carcinogen, and routine exposure could increase one's risk of liver damage or liver cancer.
Biggs said hes afraid the administration won't step in to help the eastern Ohio residents because it's not politically expedient.
"That's the concern I have, not just with Pete Buttigieg, but with the entire Biden administration," explained Biggs. "If it's not agenda-ized for political purposes, they're not going to get involved to help the American people."
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