Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is under fire yet again after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a rare and alarming full ground stop for all U.S. flights Wednesday morning.
Several pilots texted me that the only upgrade Pete Buttigieg and the FAA have done to NOTAM is to change it from "Notice to Airmen" to "Notice to Air Missions." That's it. They did that in December of 2021.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 11, 2023
Buttigieg is the most useless cabinet secretary in a generation
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) January 11, 2023
All of us know he cares more about TV appearances than actually doing his job https://t.co/IfQYar0jWZ
ALL domestic flights are grounded for the 1st time since 9/11. It’s just one transportation crisis after another under Biden. Instead of worrying about racist roads & gas powered cars, he should focus on REAL transportation & cyber security upgrades. https://t.co/niUGTISuxm
— Nicole Malliotakis (@NMalliotakis) January 11, 2023
According to President Joe Biden, Buttigieg doesn't know what caused a computer outage that led to the ground stop.
"I just spoke with [Transportation Secretary] Buttigieg. They don't know what the cause is. But I was on the phone with him," Biden said Wednesday morning from the South Lawn of the White House. "I told them to report directly to me when they find out. Aircraft can still land safely, just not take off right now. They don't know what the cause of it is, they expect in a couple of hours they'll have a good sense of what caused it and will respond at that time."
FAA has determined that the safety system affected by the overnight outage is fully restored, and the nationwide ground stop will be lifted effective immediately. I have directed an after-action process to determine root causes and recommend next steps.
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) January 11, 2023
Since taking office in early 2021, Buttigieg has been mired in controversy and his lack of transportation experience has been repeatedly highlighted with a number of crises. During the supply chain crisis of 2021, when thousands of fully loaded shipping containers were sitting offshore, Buttigieg took off for months of paternity leave without appointing a deputy. During negotiations that nearly resulted in a devastating and economically disruptive nation wide rail strike, Buttigieg was on vacation in Portugal.
In an interview with Fox News last week, Buttigieg defended his record and refuted claims he's been missing in action.
.@BretBaier: "You kept a low profile during the Southwest debacle...You were in Portugal during the rail strike crisis. You were on paternity leave during the 2021 supply chain crisis...how do you address that criticism?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 5, 2023
BUTTIGIEG: "It's nonsense." pic.twitter.com/tLGKrhzMEw
In recent weeks, Buttigieg has been under fire for his use of private jets (especially given his lecturing about climate change) and abuse of taxpayer funded travel.
This follows last month’s bombshell report that Buttigieg has taken at least 18 taxpayer-funded private jet flights since taking office, despite advocating for major emissions reductions and failing to improve commercial air travel for normal Americans. https://t.co/hmMhYSkKG3
— Americans for Public Trust (@apublictrust) January 4, 2023