I suppose GOP Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison wanted some of that attention his colleagues have been getting lately. However, he should have brought a date to a musical instead because this didn't do it. It was a massive flop when he tried to grill Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. He should have done some research first. Pete always brings the receipts.
"Secretary Buttigieg, since taking the role, you've traveled quite a bit, including private flights," he asked. "How often do you take private flights?"
"So I assume by private flights you mean the use of government aircraft assigned to my agency, and I knew this might come up, so I brought some numbers," Buttigieg said. "Since getting this job, I have taken 600; these are estimates, give or take a couple, but I've taken 638 flights."
"And any of those commercial?" the big dummy asked.
'Say that again,' Buttigieg said.
"Any of those commercial?" Burlison said again.
"607 of them were commercial, 10 of them were on military aircraft such as Air Force One, and 21 of them were on FAA aircraft, representing about 3% of the flights," Secretary Buttigieg explained.
'What was the, there was a Freedom of Information request made at your office to reveal the costs of the travel," the lawmaker said. "Have you provided those costs?"
"I'd have to check back with the office to see how the, on the traffic, but I can tell you that yeah, we're going to comply with all FOIA requests," Buttigieg said.
"As I understand, it's been months, and you've not provided the financial numbers for that travel," Burlison said. "You'll commit to providing that information?"
"We will always comply with FOIA," Buttigieg said.
'I appreciate the chance to discuss this because I can't help but get the sense that some people want to make it sound as if I don't travel most of the time on commercial aircraft, which, of course, is untrue," he said.
"Yeah, Mr. Secretary, I think the irony for most people in my district is that they're being told that they're going to have to convert to electric vehicles to reduce their carbon footprint, and yet not everyone gets to travel the way that you do," Burlison said while apparently not hearing Buttiegieg's answers.
"Just once again, the way I usually travel is in economy class aboard an airliner like everybody else," Buttigieg responded. "When we do it differently, it's often because it will save taxpayer money."
"So glad he asked this because I'm kind of excited to share some of the details," he added.
One does not simply pull one on Secretary Buttigieg. He would make an excellent President one day if Republicans can get past their hatred for the LGBTQ community. You know how they think they've owned him by calling him Bootygieg on social sites? Yeah, those juvenile assholes vote. Make sure you do, too.
