Pete Buttigieg shoveled out $80 billion in DEI from Transportation Dept while ignoring air traffic control upgrades: Report

Pete Buttigieg's presidential hopes are bringing renewed scrutiny to his performance while running the Department of Transportation under the Biden administration, and it is not going well.

The DOT approved tens of billions of dollars of grants for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs but stalled efforts to upgrade obsolescent air traffic control technology, according to a New York Post report.

'He was definitely pushing an agenda.'

The report cited airline industry insiders and spending records from the federal government.

In one damning incident, Buttigieg reportedly told industry executives that upgrading air traffic control systems would only lead to more airplanes being put into the air, which would not be in his interest.

"He was definitely pushing an agenda," said one industry official, who went on to accuse Buttigieg of having "little to no interest" in the needed air traffic control system upgrades.

“At first, [the Department of Transportation] and he were reluctant to say there was an air traffic controller shortage or that the shortage had anything to do with flight delays or flight cancellations,” the air industry official said.

Sources said that Buttigieg spent much of his time defending DEI policies from critics who said they put the public at risk through traffic controller shortages. He also blamed airlines for delays while refusing to upgrade the air traffic systems.

A spokesperson for Buttigieg denied the report in a statement to the Post.

RELATED: Pilots frustrated FAA prioritized 'inclusive' language, 'environmental justice' over tech issues that led to major system outage

Chris Meagher pointed to improved software changes under Buttigieg that improved efficiency and changes to flight routes that are projected to cut flight times. He also said that traffic control hiring increased during Buttigieg's tenure.

"Suggesting that Secretary Buttigieg chose not to pursue air traffic control modernization is absurd," Meagher said. "Secretary Buttigieg’s focus was always on safety — not just in aviation, but also on roads and bridges, where 40,000 Americans die on our country’s roads each year. Fixing issues with air traffic control was a priority."

Officials that spoke to the Post accused Buttigieg of focusing on looking good on television rather than actually improving transportation for Americans.

Meagher also defended the DEI program funding during the Buttigieg tenure.

"You can walk and chew gum at the same time," he said. "FAA operates completely separately than other modal administrations. So what happens at FHWA doesn't have a meaningful effect on FAA or NHTSA because they operate independently. It's separate staff, separate budgets, separate programs."

Many of the claims in the Post report corroborated a previous documentary produced by Stu Burguiere at Blaze Media warning that incompetence in leadership at the Dept. of Transportation would lead to disaster.

The Trump administration has a chance to significantly improve transportation after the Republican "big, beautiful bill" provided for an increase of $12.5 billion for the improvement of FAA systems.

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