Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg walked right into the proverbial lion’s den when he testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and he quickly schooled committee Republicans on topics ranging from climate change to subsidies for Big Oil.
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) suggested that Buttigieg was personally to blame for “killing” the U.S. auto industry by supporting the development of electric vehicles.
“I don’t know if you can justify or how you justify forcing my constituents to pay for EVs [electric vehicles] and EV infrastructure for coastal elites and wealthy people, but somehow you do,” Perry remarked.
Buttigieg: “Well, I need to point out that wealthy people were specifically excluded from the Inflation Reduction Act.”
Perry: “Well. Do you dispute that two-thirds of EV owners, are owned by people over 100,000, that make over 100,000?”
Buttigieg noted that the price of electric vehicles is going down and wondered if Perry was opposed “cutting their costs.”
“I’m not against cutting the cost. The market should do it,” Perry replied. “But you want the government, you want my taxpayers to pay to cut the cost.”
That led to Buttigieg asking about taxpayer-funded subsidies for the oil and gas industry.
“If you are of the view that there should be no subsidy to propulsion vehicles, then are you against oil and gas subsidies?”
Another GOP congressman told the secretary, “Nobody wants these electric vehicles unless you’re an elite that can afford them – people in may district sure as hell don’t want them.”
The secretary responded, “We’re doing this for three reasons, even though the EV revolution’s going to happen.”
Buttigieg also told Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) that “climate change is real,” which led the congressman to reply, “This one’s called Autumn.”
“Yeah, that’s the seasons changing which respectfully is not the same as the climate changing,” Buttigieg retorted.
But perhaps the best exchange was between Buttigieg and U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), who asked the secretary about the cost of his “private” flights, to which he responded:
“I knew this might come up, so I brought some numbers. Since getting the job, I have taken—these are estimates, give or take a couple—but I’ve taken 638 flights.”
“607 of them were commercial, 10 of them were on military aircraft such as Air Force One, and 21 were on FAA aircraft—representing about 3 percent of the flights.”
He added, “Just once again, the way I usually travel is an economy class aboard an airliner like everybody else, when we do it differently, it’s often because it will save taxpayer money.”
Here’s some video clips from Buttigieg’s testimony:
Buttigieg turns the tables on a hostile Rep. Perry on subsidies: There are some people who I suppose believe there should be no subsidies for anything involving transportation. And I assume in the spirit of philosophical consistency, they would be against subsidizing oil and gas pic.twitter.com/HOH1xhBM96
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) September 20, 2023
Buttigieg: Climate change is real.
GOP Rep. LaMalfa: This one is called autumn.
Buttigieg: I’m sorry, I didn’t make out what you said… pic.twitter.com/5Xu5rHVfwr
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) September 20, 2023
Oh my god a GOP member of congress actually brought up the bogus “private flights” story to Buttigieg’s face. Immediate regret. pic.twitter.com/8gvPt01a6C
— chyea ok (@chyeaok) September 20, 2023
