Pete Buttigieg Announces The FAA Is 'Significantly Increasing Oversight Of Boeing' After Issues

4 months ago

At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, Sec. Pete Buttigieg spoke about the president's proposed budget.

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Transcript

00:00 Thank you, Vice Chair. Mr. Secretary, please proceed with your testimony.

00:05 How about now? There we go. Chair Schatz, Ranking Member Hyde-Smith, Vice Chair

00:13 Collins, and members of the subcommittee, I want to thank you for the opportunity

00:17 to discuss President Biden's fiscal year 2025 budget request for the Department

00:22 of Transportation. And I want to thank you for your partnership as we have

00:25 delivered safer, stronger transportation across every mode and across the country.

00:29 Roadway fatalities are at last trending downwards, shipping costs are down as

00:34 supply chains are running more smoothly, and airline cancellations last year

00:38 were the lowest in a decade. As you all know, we still have much more to do. We

00:43 are rebuilding not just from the pandemic, but from decades of

00:46 disinvestment and an enforcement environment that for too long

00:49 privileged corporations instead of protecting people. The President's budget

00:54 request of $146.2 billion builds on the progress we have made and

00:59 enables us to deliver on the important challenges and opportunities that remain.

01:03 I'll start with our primary mission across every mode of transportation,

01:07 safety. On our roads, we have funded projects in every state to improve

01:12 safety for all travelers. After years going in the wrong direction, we've now

01:16 had seven consecutive quarters of declining deaths on America's roadways.

01:20 But this is still a national crisis taking over 40,000 lives every year, and

01:26 we are requesting $72 billion to improve America's roads and bridges

01:30 with an emphasis on safety and efficiency. We're constantly reminded of

01:35 the importance of transportation safety. The country watched in shock as a cargo

01:39 ship struck and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, taking

01:42 six lives in closing a vital port. We're working across the Biden administration

01:47 and with state, local, and private sector partners to help reopen the port as

01:50 quickly as possible. We also immediately got to work with the state on the first

01:54 steps toward rebuilding the bridge. Turning to aviation, America was rightly

01:59 alarmed when a door blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The

02:04 FAA acted swiftly by grounding 737 MAX 9 aircraft until each plane was

02:09 safe to return to the air, and the FAA is significantly increasing oversight of

02:14 Boeing. The agency is also investing in the physical infrastructure, staffing, and

02:18 technology of our national airspace and airports. We are requesting $26.8

02:23 billion for the FAA, which will support oversight of aircraft production,

02:26 accelerate the modernization of the national airspace system, increase the

02:30 target to hire 2,000 air traffic controllers, and continue improving

02:34 airports. On our rails, we are modernizing infrastructure, fixing road rail

02:39 crossings, and improving service in places like Chicago, Moore, Oklahoma,

02:43 between New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, just to name a few. We are

02:47 requesting $16.4 billion, which in addition to expanding and improving rail

02:52 service, will allow us to increase the number of safety inspectors to 400 and

02:56 add new staff to complete safety audits. We recently finalized the rule for safe

03:01 train crew sizes, establishing what most Americans assumed was already the case,

03:05 which was a minimum of two crew members generally applying to large freight

03:09 trains. Indeed, we are taking every step that does not require an act of Congress,

03:14 but we're also continuing to call on Congress to pass the bipartisan Railway

03:19 Safety Act, which would provide much-needed authorities to keep

03:22 passengers, workers, and communities safe. Across the country, we are repairing and

03:27 replacing what existed, and building and modernizing for the future. Last week, I

03:31 was in Las Vegas for the groundbreaking of the new rail line from Southern

03:34 California to Las Vegas, which will be the first true high-speed rail to go

03:38 into service in the United States. It was a great day for the millions of

03:42 Americans who will ride this train every year, for our truck drivers and supply

03:46 chains that will benefit from less congested highways, for everyone across

03:49 the country who will live in a climate with 800 million fewer pounds of carbon

03:53 pollution annually. But more than those separate benefits, it's a celebration of

03:57 the fact that America can still build massive engineering marvels with the

04:02 potential of many more to come. This one project is creating a thousand good

04:06 union jobs for the men and women who will maintain and operate the train line,

04:10 plus another 10,000 good union construction jobs to build it. Everywhere

04:15 I go, I meet workers already benefiting from these jobs, and I think often of

04:19 workers like a young veteran I met in Washington State who reminded me of so

04:22 many people I got to know when I was in uniform, who go on to face the challenges

04:27 of building a civilian life. He talked about what it was like coming off active

04:30 duty as a Marine. Then he said, "I came across" - these are his words - "I came

04:34 across this union, the amount of training I got, the amount of work stability, the

04:38 level I have to conduct myself at, the purpose that I have, prevented me from

04:42 becoming a statistic." He's now the first person in his family to own a

04:46 house. We know what it means to have these kinds of jobs, and these benefits

04:50 are multiplied across tens of thousands of projects, improving American

04:54 transportation across the country and the millions of jobs they support,

04:58 helping us build stronger supply chains, get cleaner air, and deliver safer, more

05:03 affordable ways for every American to get where they need to go. We've made

05:07 good progress, but there is much more to do, and we look forward to working with

05:10 this committee to continue delivering for every community in this country.

05:14 Thank you again for the opportunity to be here. I'm looking forward to our

Pete Buttigieg Announces The FAA Is 'Significantly Increasing Oversight Of Boeing' After Issues

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