For Pete’s Sake …

On 26 June, a bill aiming to put an end to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s personal use of U.S. taxpayer funded government aircraft was put before the U.S. Senate.

If passed, the legislation—introduced by Senator Eric Schmitt (Republican, Missouri)—would prohibit Buttigieg and his DOT contemporaries from making personal use of government aircraft excepting in times of emergency or instances in which the cost of private travel is projected to be five-percent less than a commercial flight to the same destination.

Buttigieg, a vocal proponent of climate action and advocate of increased government control of carbon emissions, has traveled aboard private jets managed by the Federal Aviation Administration—both domestically and internationally—at least 18 times since assuming office in February 2021.

To the subjects of his bill and the reasons for its propounding, Senator Schmitt stated: "Secretary Buttigieg seems averse to traveling on the very commercial airlines that his department oversees. It’s far past time that Secretary Buttigieg travel commercially instead of wasting taxpayer dollars on private jet flights.”

Schmitt added: "It [the newly-submitted bill] will also fix a loophole to bring more transparency in reporting the costs of these flights."

The loophole to which Senator Schmitt referred is a DOT accounting convention by which the cost of official travel has been chronically obfuscated. Opponents of the practice allege it misrepresents travel costs, making such appear lower than they actually are.

Schmitt maintains hope his bill will "make Secretary Buttigieg consider the most fiscally responsible option when flying on official business."

The government watchdog group Americans for Public Trust (APT) has officially and repeatedly prevailed upon the FAA to provide records detailing Buttigieg’s use of the agency’s jets—albeit to no avail.

On 15 June, APT filed a federal lawsuit alleging the FAA had purposefully and improperly delayed provision of the requested records.

APT executive director Caitlin Sutherland stated: "Pete Buttigieg abused taxpayer dollars by using a private jet to fly domestically and internationally. It’s been six-months since we helped expose Secretary Buttigieg’s trips, but his agency refuses to tell the American people how much they’re on the hook for his extravagant travel arrangements."

Ms. Sutherland added: "Buttigieg’s FAA has stonewalled and refused to adhere to the law for releasing public records, so we’re filing suit on behalf of all Americans who deserve to know how their money is being spent by this administration.”

APT's lawsuit makes clear that more than one-hundred days have elapsed since the FAA acknowledged receipt of the group’s information requests.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, federal agencies are required to provide requested records within twenty working days, or—in the event an extension is deemed necessary—thirty working days. The requesting party is allowed to pursue legal action if a court determines said party has exhausted its administrative remedies.

Publicly available flight records pertaining to Buttigieg’s alleged misuse of FAA aircraft align with the Secretary of Transportation’s schedule of government stakeholder and public engagements.

Speaking in December 2022 to the point of Buttigieg’s propensity to reflexively hop FAA aircraft, Ms. Sutherland remarked: "Everyday Americans face flight [cancellations] and long wait times because Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has completely mismanaged air travel; yet he gets to avoid all that by taking taxpayer-funded private jets to destinations with readily available commercial airline options—and for someone so holier-than-thou on reducing emissions, Buttigieg sure doesn’t seem to mind the pollution caused by his literal jet-setting. This is hypocrisy at its finest, and these troubling expenses to taxpayers must come under immediate scrutiny."

While the exact taxpayer cost of Buttigieg's executive travel is unclear, the FAA—as reported by the Washington Post in 2017—has charged federal agencies roughly $5,000 per hour to use its fleet. Ergo Buttigieg’s travel expenses may be conservatively estimated at $90,000.

Flight-tracking data shows Buttigieg, in August 2021, used taxpayer-funded business jets to travel roundtrip from Washington, D.C. to Las Vegas for purpose of promoting Nevada public works projects. On another occasion, he visited multiple states as part of a tour highlighting grants authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—jetting on taxpayer dollars to Florida, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Ohio, Nevada, and New Hampshire over the course of a trip dubbed the Building a Better America Tour. When asked about his decision to travel to a series of key swing-states upon which recent federal elections hinged, Buttigieg pointed out that Oklahoma wasn’t a swing state, but declined to comment on the remainder of the states he’d visited.

Secretary Buttigieg subsequently used an FAA private jet for a roundtrip journey to Montreal, where he attended both an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) conference and a Canadian gay rights gala at which he received an award.

To the subject of Buttigieg’s travel by taxpayer-funded private jet, a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesperson claimed: "Secretary Buttigieg mostly travels by commercial airline, and has directed that travel and logistical decisions be grounded in efficient and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.  …However, there are some cases where it is more efficient and/or less expensive for the Secretary and accompanying personnel to fly on a 9-seater FAA plane rather than commercial flights.”

The spokesperson withheld quantification of the monies the DOT has ostensibly saved taxpayers.

In 2021, on the heels of the publication of his agency’s Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan, Buttigieg proclaimed: "The climate crisis is here today, threatening Americans’ lives and livelihoods, our homes and businesses, and even the way we travel and operate our federal agencies. The good news is that we know what to do about it, and America is fully capable of rising to the occasion."

The Secretary’s proclamation continued: "While we work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the worst outcomes of climate change, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s plan will help ensure that our transportation infrastructure, policies and programs will be more resilient to the climate impacts already facing our country.”

At a 2021 United Nations climate summit, while engaged in climate negotiations with various world leaders, Buttigieg doggedly pushed decarbonization policies, remarking during the event that aviation is a "significant contributor to climate change."

Whether or not Secretary Buttigieg bolstered his argument with an accounting of the vast number of daily commercial flights by which Washington D.C. airports are serviced remains unknown.

FMI: www.transportation.gov