Andy Biggs calls for Buttigieg to resign over Ohio train derailment handling
Virginia Aabram
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Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) called for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg‘s resignation on Tuesday as lawmakers pan his response to the Ohio train derailment that released plumes of toxic gas into the air.
Buttigieg addressed the disaster Monday, over a week after the crash occurred on Feb. 3. Residents living in areas surrounding East Palestine, Ohio, were instructed to evacuate after 50 train cars derailed and subsequently caught fire, spewing vinyl chloride, phosgene, hydrogen chloride, and other gases into the air and water.
REPUBLICANS PAN PETE BUTTIGIEG’S HANDLING OF OHIO TRAIN DISASTER
Biggs said the acknowledgment came “10 days too late,” echoing other Republicans such as Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) who were critical of the delay.
https://twitter.com/repandybiggsaz/status/1625331535166509058?s=46&t=d7eOlF2qWEIbWpJbtrGpcg
While Republicans started to take notice of the disaster earlier this week, Democrats also began to demand “direct action” from Buttigieg as well. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) pointed out that the environmental and health effects could be far-reaching.
“East Palestine railroad derailment will have a significant negative impact on the health and wellbeing of the residents for decades and there is almost zero national media attention. We need Congressional inquiry and direct action from Pete Buttigieg to address this tragedy,” she tweeted Monday.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) slammed the Biden administration on Tucker Carlson on Monday.
“We are ruled by unserious people who are worried about fake problems instead of the real fact that our country is falling apart in some of the most important ways,” Vance said. “The leaders of this country have decided to disregard the people of East Palestine.”
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The news of the crash was overshadowed by the United States shooting down several more aerial objects in American and Canadian airspace after a Chinese spy balloon was found floating over sensitive military sites in Montana last week.
Multiple problems in the transportation sector have taken place under the Biden administration, including Southwest Airlines’s Christmas flight fiasco, the Federal Aviation Administration grounding all flights due to a lapse in its communications system last month, and a barely averted rail strike last fall, in addition to continued problems with global supply chains.