One of the things that American taxpayers expect from Republican lawmakers is to save them a bit of money. Slashing all of the pork Democrats are so fond of and eliminating things like studies of the sex lives of fruit flies are to be applauded. On Tuesday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced yet another way the American taxpayer can save a buck. Greene introduced a bill that would slash the salary of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to just $1, and late on Tuesday, the House approved the measure.
🚨 BREAKING: I’m proud to announce my amendment to FIRE Pete Buttigieg just PASSED the House.
Pothole Pete staged fake bike rides to the White House and used private planes funded by taxpayers to receive awards for the way certain people have sex.
American taxpayers should not… pic.twitter.com/9fq9XrXLV2
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) November 7, 2023
The bill was passed as an amendment to the 2024 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act. This is an individual funding bill for agencies such as the General Services Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Greene took a victory lap on social media after the amendment was passed, saying:
“I’m proud to announce my amendment to FIRE Pete Buttigieg just PASSED the House. Pothole Pete staged fake bike rides to the White House and used private planes funded by taxpayers to receive awards for the way certain people have sex. American taxpayers should not be on the hook for paying for his lavish trips or his salary. Pete Buttigieg doesn’t do his job. It’s all about fake photo ops and taxpayer-funded private jet trip to accept LGBTQ awards for him. I’m happy my amendment passed, but he doesn’t deserve a single penny.”
The Department of Transportation (DOT) under Buttigieg has a less than stellar record, with Buttigieg himself absent for many of the crises the department has encountered. First, there was the airline cancelation meltdown at the height of the holiday travel season in 2022. Buttigieg was aware of the possible looming disaster for air travelers well before it happened. In a letter to then-House and Senate leaders, the Attorneys General of 38 states, territories, and the District of Columbia stated that the DOT was creating a “vacuum of oversight” that “allows airlines to mistreat consumers and leaves consumers without effective redress.” Buttigieg was also urged to “impost fines for significant cancelations and extended delays that are not weather-related or otherwise unavoidable.” Ultimately, roughly one million travelers are believed to have had flights canceled at the busiest time of the year.
Still a dollar too much… https://t.co/B1Nd55BR7S
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) November 8, 2023
In February 2023, a train derailed in the small town of East Palestine, Ohio, spewing large amounts of the dangerous chemical vinyl chloride into the surrounding environment and creating serious health concerns for residents. It took Buttigieg three weeks to visit East Palestine, and it came the day after former President Trump visited the crash site. During a town hall event on February 15, one resident asked East Palestine Mayor Trent Conway why Buttigieg had not yet shown up to inspect the crash site, “Where is Pete Buttigieg? Where’s he at?” Buttigieg’s word salad of an answer as to his whereabouts,
“I felt strongly about this and could have expressed that sooner. I was taking pains to respect the role that I have and the role that I don’t have, and that should not have stopped me from weighing in about how I felt about what was happening to this community.”
Incidentally, the good people of East Palestine are still waiting for an appearance from President Joe Biden.
While average Americans have dealt with the airline industry and chemical spills, Pete Buttigieg has taken private jets to wherever he needs to go roughly 18 times, including in September of 2022 when he made a round trip to Montreal to accept an award from a gay rights group for his “contributions to the advancement of LGBTQ rights.” Buttigieg’s office has been less than forthcoming about his use of private air travel, sparking an investigation from the Inspector General. Information obtained by the group Americans for Public Trust (APT) claims Buttigieg’s flights have cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.
Among Buttigieg’s other glaring no-shows, during a serious supply chain crisis in 2021, he took a three-month paternity leave. And in December of 2022, as the Biden administration was embroiled in negotiations to head off a strike by the nation’s rail workers that would have had a crippling effect on the economy, Buttigieg was in Europe on vacation. A Transportation Department spokesman stated that Buttigieg was dialed into “multiple calls with staff and stakeholders to work on the topic of rail labor negotiations.”
Note to Rep. Greene: This is a good start. Surely, there are some other departments where we can save Americans even more tax dollars.
🚨 Pete Buttigieg’s office is refusing to release the cost of his taxpayer-funded private jet tour of key swing states…
Not only is the “climate crisis” activist campaigning using a private jet, he’s making you, the taxpayer, pick up the tab.https://t.co/mBMFcU3vTz
— Tea Party Patriots (@TPPatriots) November 7, 2023
