The uniparty that purports to rule over us has struck again. This time, they’ve gotten together to defeat a bill that would have forced the tragicomically awful Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to publicly disclose the flight records of US taxpayer-funded trips he took.
Yes, Republicans actually helped defend Mayor Pete.
Of course, such an outcome would be dangerous for those elected officials who also routinely abuse their CODEL privileges to travel on the taxpayers’ dime.
So, the bill aimed at greater transparency and accountability to the besieged taxpayer was naturally one that both parties in Congress would rally around killing.
After all, the elected members of Congress wouldn’t want John Q. Public seeing just where, exactly, they were getting off to on the dime of those ordinary Americans.
Peter Buttigieg Abused His Position for Free Trips
According to the public watchdog group, Americans for Public Trust, Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg was “caught excessively using a taxpayer-funded jet” for trips that were unlikely to have been truly US government business.
Why pay for your lavish vacation when you just get the ordinary American taxpayer to do it? Could we at least get sweet vacation photos so that we all could have felt like we were there since, y’know, we paid for the whole dang thing? While we don’t know any of that for certain, the public does have the right to know either way.
Or were these lavish trips on our dime something less savory…like all those trips that government leaders took to visit Jeffrey Epstein’s creepy island when he was still among the living?
There’s also the implication that Buttigieg, as the Biden Administration transportation secretary, was dangerously flirting with Hatch Act violations. Buttigieg is known to have recently gone on a tour promoting the Biden Administration’s massive infrastructure bill in key swing states.
While it would be difficult to prove, the fact remains that the secretary of transportation was clearly engaged in backdoor politicking for his boss, who is currently running for reelection, by reminding voters in those swing states of the opportunities that the Biden Administration’s policies made possible for the voters in those states.
Again, this is something that our elected officials in both parties enjoy doing.
Of course, if the hated former President Donald J. Trump had done it, they’d have fried him for it. But that’s simply because Trump, like the rest of us mere taxpayers, was not part of the anointed class in the nation’s capital.
There’s a big problem in this country. America’s leaders increasingly live above the rest of us who fund them. They look down on us. In fact, these leaders actively craft policies that routinely harm the taxpayers of America.
Pete Buttigieg is but the most recent example of the manner in which our elite truly live apart from the rest of us (while on our dime). And you can see how the elite won’t police themselves based on this recent vote.
And what about Buttigieg’s record as transportation secretary?
Pete Buttigieg: Worst Transportation Secretary Ever
Pete Buttigieg is a known quantity to the average voter because he’s so awful at the job. Last year, there was one crisis after another in the transportation industry that was either caused by or exacerbated by Buttigieg’s Department of Transportation.
Have any heads rolled because of the East Palestine, Ohio, chemical spill that occurred earlier this year when a train derailed, spilling toxic chemicals everywhere?
Or what about punishments for the Department of Transportation, which failed to properly manage a flight control system that caused cascading flight cancellations during the height of the summer travel season last year?
Of course, Buttigieg and those around him weren’t held accountable.
Who Watches the Watchers?
Now, Congress which should be regulating the heck out of Buttigieg’s office is passing laws designed to better protect Buttigieg from the prying eyes of government watchdog groups who are understandably concerned about how badly US taxpayer dollars are being managed by Buttigieg and his department.
The lack of oversight for Buttigieg’s flights to who-knows-where on our dime is just another example of how the political class lives apart from the rest of us. No one will rein their excesses in, because they’re all enjoying those excesses in Washington.
Until some radical, major changes are made to the system in Washington, D.C.—until the Swamp is actually drained—this type of disrespect for the taxpayer will continue.
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
From 19FortyFive
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