Buttigieg Continues Wasteful Government Jet-Set Ways
As we noted, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is fond of taking trips on private jets funded by taxpayers. As Fox News reports, this wasteful activity is worse than taxpayers imagined.
Last April 7, Buttigieg flew on a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) government jet from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to an executive airport near New York City.
Later that same day, Buttigieg returned to Washington on the same jet, a Cessna Citation 560XL, to attend a White House meeting.
During the short trip, Buttigieg had a 40-minute meeting with Deborah Archer, president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is not a branch of government. That was followed by a 20-minute meeting with Department of Transportation employees and a one-hour radio interview with the “Breakfast Club.” This was not an isolated case.
Secretary Pete Buttigieg has taken at least 18 trips on private jets, funded by taxpayers, including a trip to Montreal, Canada, to receive an award. Such trips by a former presidential candidate merit a closer look. Secretary Buttigieg advocates more government action to curb carbon emissions, and the Cessna 560XL Gulfstream IV jets favored by the Secretary contribute their fair share.
The Secretary’s trips were exposed by Americans for Public Trust (APT), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to “restoring trust in government by holding politicians and political groups accountable for corrupt and unethical behavior.” Secretary Buttigieg should make that noble task easier.
The Department of Transportation should post all the Secretary’s trips on a government website in real-time and in downloadable form. Given the Secretary’s proclaimed dedication to the environment, the website should indicate the type of government jet used, the cost of the trip to taxpayers, and an estimate of its carbon emissions. The Department of Transportation would thus set a standard of transparency for every federal department.
