Reps. Mace, Van Duyne: Buttigieg 'Not Qualified'; Biden 'Basking' Amid Airline/Weather Crisis
(CNSNews.com) - Two Republican congresswoman had blunt words for President Joe Biden and his "unqualified" transportation secretary on Wednesday, as thousands of Southwest Airlines travelers remain stranded, separated from their luggage, or both.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said the weather-induced flight debacle hit close to home for her, as her teenage children "got stranded in Baltimore trying to make it home on Christmas Eve. And even today, five days later, we still don't know where their luggage is right now," Mace told Fox News on Wednesday night.
"This has impacted thousands upon thousands of people," she said.
"And I was disheartened and disappointed to hear the president -- basking in the Caribbean during this crisis -- could not be any more tone deaf right now. Because this has affected tens of thousands of people that can't get on trains, can't rent cars, can't recoup their flights to get home. They're stranded all across the country right now.
"I want to hear (Transportation Secretary) Pete Buttigieg say he's going to audit and figure out where the $7 billion went that Southwest received from American taxpayers. That's what I want to hear tonight."
Appearing with Mace, Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) said, "It's not just that Biden that goes on vacation when he's most needed. You look at Buttigieg -- from the beginning, this guy was not qualified to take this job. He's a Cabinet secretary.
“And in his first year in the office, we were having tremendous supply chain issues, people can't get the supplies that they need, when businesses are going bankrupt, where is he? He takes two months off for paternity leave.
"Earlier this year, we had the rail strike, potential, looming over us. We were going to have, again, a massive amount of hit to our economy, you were going to have municipalities that couldn't get chemicals to be able to treat their water supply. And where was Pete? Oh, that's right. He was on a family vacation in Portugal. He could not be bothered not to go on vacation -- to postpone that for the American people.
"This is a man who was not qualified for the job, has never really been on the job. And we've trusted him with $1.2 trillion worth of taxpayer dollars, and you're seeing how he has just completely fallen on his face, time and time again."
Mace promised that the House Transportation and Oversight Committees, on which she sits, will "have lots of questions" for Buttigieg.
"He's going to have a lot to answer for when he comes to Congress.
“What is he doing with the taxpayer dollars that have been received, how are they being distributed. How is he going to hold Southwest accountable? And what you're seeing today is the federal government rewarding bad behavior by having a private company be bailed out and subsidized by the American taxpayer.
"So what is Pete Buttigieg going to do about it, besides hold a press conference?" she asked.
President Biden has not issued any statement or tweet on the Southwest Airlines meltdown. Buttigieg has promised to hold Southwest "accountable" for failing to live up to its written customer service plan.
Watch: Pete Buttigieg Told James Corden Airline Travel Would Be ‘Better By the Holidays’
Transportation Secretary told late-night comedian James Corden three months ago that airline travel would improve by the holiday season, a claim that does not appear to have been kept amid massive flight cancellations during the holiday.
According to a recent report from The Lever, federal officials share equal blame for the massive airline cancellations over the holiday season, a trend that began in the summer of 2022 and never seemed to improve. Chief among those responsible is none other than Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has reportedly yet to enforce some consumer protection policies on the airlines that have been abusing the people’s travel needs.
In September, roughly a week after he received a bipartisan letter from 38 state attorney generals across the country demanding his department do more to fix the problem, Buttigieg said the situation would improve come Christmas when comedian James Corden pressed him on the topic.
“I think it’s going to get better by the holidays. We’re really pressing the airlines to deliver better service. So many people have been delayed, been canceled. It has happened to me,” he said.
Watch below:
“The good news is people are going back to the skies. They have the income. They have the inclination. We’ve put off holidays, we’ve put off trips for two years, we’re finally doing it again, which is great. But, we need to make sure that the system is ready,” he added. “If you’ve ever been mistreated by an airline. If they haven’t given you the refund they owe you, if they haven’t lived up to their customer service obligations, we will have your back.”
Pete Buttigieg said that the government created a website to hold the airlines accountable, adding that most agreed to refund customers in the event of a flight cancellation as well as provide hotels and meal vouchers.
“When they actually fail to live up to the rules, there’s serious enforcement behind that and we want to know if that’s happened to you,” he concluded.
The holiday travel period has been plagued by a winter storm and thousands of delayed and cancelled flights, the majority of which have occurred at Southwest Airlines. (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
As the report from The Lever noted, few to none of Buttigieg’s promises materialized by the Christmas travel season, with Southwest Airlines being the biggest culprit stranding thousands of Americans. In September, for instance, the anti-monopoly think tank American Economic Liberties Project (AELP) noted that the department had yet to issue a single fine against the more politically powerful airlines.
“The Department of Transportation has announced a rule on refunds that won’t take effect for at least 2-3 years, sent the airline CEOs a letter, and promised to unveil an information dashboard,” wrote the AELP. “It has yet to fine any U.S. airline a single dollar for unpaid refunds, flight cancellations, or systematic violations of consumer protection law, and has issued fewer enforcement orders in 2021 than in any single year of the Trump and Obama administrations.”
“The good news is people are going back to the skies. They have the income. They have the inclination. We’ve put off holidays, we’ve put off trips for two years, we’re finally doing it again, which is great. But, we need to make sure that the system is ready,” he added. “If you’ve ever been mistreated by an airline. If they haven’t given you the refund they owe you, if they haven’t lived up to their customer service obligations, we will have your back.”
Pete Buttigieg said that the government created a website to hold the airlines accountable, adding that most agreed to refund customers in the event of a flight cancellation as well as provide hotels and meal vouchers.
“When they actually fail to live up to the rules, there’s serious enforcement behind that and we want to know if that’s happened to you,” he concluded.
The holiday travel period has been plagued by a winter storm and thousands of delayed and cancelled flights, the majority of which have occurred at Southwest Airlines. (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
As the report from The Lever noted, few to none of Buttigieg’s promises materialized by the Christmas travel season, with Southwest Airlines being the biggest culprit stranding thousands of Americans. In September, for instance, the anti-monopoly think tank American Economic Liberties Project (AELP) noted that the department had yet to issue a single fine against the more politically powerful airlines.
“The Department of Transportation has announced a rule on refunds that won’t take effect for at least 2-3 years, sent the airline CEOs a letter, and promised to unveil an information dashboard,” wrote the AELP. “It has yet to fine any U.S. airline a single dollar for unpaid refunds, flight cancellations, or systematic violations of consumer protection law, and has issued fewer enforcement orders in 2021 than in any single year of the Trump and Obama administrations.”
Pete Buttigieg Ignored State Attorneys General Warnings on Holiday Airline Travel
President Joe Biden’s Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, has ignored state attorneys general’s repeated requests to protect consumers and hold airlines accountable for canceling flights in the months leading up to the ongoing holiday travel fiasco.
This Christmas holiday travel season has been plagued with thousands of flight cancelations, primarily by Southwest Airlines, which failed to regain its footing after a massive winter storm hit the U.S.
While Buttigieg faces increased scrutiny to penalize airlines like Southwest for the thousands of cancelled flights, this holiday season is not the first time Buttigieg has been urged to hold airlines accountable.
For example, over the summer, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) sent Buttigieg a letter that warned of “the deeply troubling and escalating pattern of airlines delaying and canceling flights” during holiday flight seasons. James wrote:
Airlines have attributed cancellations to staffing shortages, particularly due to a purported shortage of airline pilots. Yet, as you have acknowledged, the pilot shortage is due in large part to actions taken by the airlines forcing pilots into early retirement or otherwise shrinking their pilot pool.
A few weeks after James’s letter, a coalition of 38 bipartisan state attorneys general sent a letter to Congressional leaders that accused the Department of Transportation of facilitating an environment that “allows airlines to mistreat consumers and leaves consumers without effective redress.”
“If state attorneys general had a substantial and meaningful role in overseeing airline consumer protection, the failure of the US DOT would be ameliorated by the ability of state attorneys general to enforce the law,” the state attorneys general wrote.
Over the summer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) also sent a letter to Buttigieg and Transportation Department General Counsel John Putnam urging the agency to “fully utilize its statutory authority to protect consumers and promote competition in the airline industry.”
Despite these repeated requests, Buttigieg’s Transportation Department failed to take meaningful action that would have prevented the ongoing holiday travel fiasco.
Instead, Buttigieg appeared on television in early September and claimed that airline travel “is going to get better by the holidays.” Buttigieg also told talk show host James Corden that the Transportation Department is “really pressing the airlines to deliver better service.”
Still, state officials urged Buttigieg to take action as recently as December.
A coalition of 34 state attorneys general led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) called on Buttigieg to “impose significant fines for cancellations and extended delays that are not weather-related or otherwise unavoidable.” Weiser said:
As many Coloradans are planning to travel during the holidays and looking forward to seeing loved ones, now is a good time to remind USDOT that it has the opportunity to hold airlines accountable when they mistreat consumers, helping add ease to consumers’ future travel plans and lessen unexpected financial burdens.
Buttigieg has yet to impose any fines on Southwest Airlines for the more than 3,000 flights canceled since Christmas.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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