Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wasted more than $80 billion on diversity, equity, and inclusion grants and climate programs instead of fixing the nation's air traffic control systems, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Newsmax on Monday.
"Well, I think this is the first time that we're seeing the media really report on what happened over the course of the last four years under Buttigieg and [former President Joe] Biden," Duffy told "Rob Schmitt Tonight."
"There wasn't a focus on building big, beautiful projects that connect people. It was really about spending infrastructure money to drive an ideological agenda, whether it be the green agenda or the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda."
According to Transportation Department records and industry officials, the agency under Buttigieg awarded more than $80 billion in DEI-related grants over four years, an amount equal to roughly half the department's annual budget, the New York Post reported.
"But it is dangerous when Pete Buttigieg didn't take money from Congress and make the critical investments in air traffic control," Duffy said.
"It's just not one part of the air traffic control system — it's the whole thing that needed to be rebuilt, built brand new. And Pete Buttigieg didn't lift a finger to make that happen."
Recent issues at Newark Liberty International Airport, including reduced arrival rates and persistent delays, have drawn attention to outdated Federal Aviation Administration equipment and staffing shortfalls. Duffy said these problems are symptoms of misaligned priorities.
"The secretary has a lot of power to select what grants the secretary wants to fund, and Pete Buttigieg used that power to select grants that played well, saying, 'We're going to do a lot of DEI work or a lot of green work.' And then what you saw is less money went to the actual infrastructure, and more of it went to the liberal agenda," he said.
"To be clear, when Congress passed the appropriations bills, they never had the Pete Buttigieg requirements in their language ... but Pete Buttigieg just did it anyway and squandered America's money. A lot of people will look and say, 'Well, we spent over $2 billion from the 2009 stimulus bill to the $1.3 trillion infrastructure bill. What do we have to show for it?' Nothing's been built. And I think Americans should be angry."
Now, we're going to "spend American tax dollars really well," Duffy said, "and we are going to deliver for them in air traffic control ... with the best system in the world."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.