Buttigieg faces grilling on Harris’ immigration record: ‘Let’s get real’

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg defended the Biden-Harris administration's handling of illegal immigration in a heated back-and-forth with Fox News' Shannon Bream on Sunday.

Buttigieg appeared in his personal capacity as a special guest on "Fox News Sunday" and attempted to deflect criticisms of Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris and Democrats have attempted to flip the script on her 2021 mission to address border issues, a mission that led to the media widely calling her "border czar" at the time. 

"Let's be very clear about this because there has been a lot of mischaracterization. She was not in charge of the border. The Homeland Security Department is in charge of the border. She did do something important, though. She was assigned to conduct diplomacy with Central American countries, knowing that that's part of the bigger picture of what's affecting the border. And you know what? Those Central American countries are among the few countries to see their numbers go down in terms of the source of migrants who are seen at the border," Buttigieg said.

"Not by much," Bream countered.

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Buttigieg went on to argue that President Biden had only failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform thanks to former President Trump's intervention.

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"[Biden] wanted Congress to resolve [immigration] because that would have been more durable. But when Trump came in, talked Republicans out of their own bipartisan project because he didn't want the issue to get better. Remember, the worse things are at the border, the better things get for Donald Trump. So he has a vested interest in it remaining chaotic down there," Buttigieg said.

Bream pushed back on the claim, however, saying that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other Republican lawmakers had objected to provisions Democrats slipped into the border bill.

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"Let's get real. You know why they didn't move forward," Buttigieg insisted. "They moved forward because Donald Trump swooped in and said I don't want Joe Biden to get a win."

"Many of them felt that it was a flawed piece of legislation that had too many loopholes and things they couldn't support," Bream said.

Buttigieg is one of many top Democrats who have jumped to defend Harris on her immigration policy since her rapid ascension as the presumptive Democratic nominee in 2024.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused Republicans of "making up" the title of "border czar." His comments came just before six members of his House Democratic Caucus voted to criticize her handling of the migrant crisis.

"We have a single legislative item that is on the floor today… it’s a fake and fraudulent resolution cooked up, I think, by one of the representatives from New York – continues to embarrass herself regularly – that lies about the vice president," Jeffries told reporters at his weekly press conference.

"She was never assigned the position of border czar. They're making that up, because the extreme MAGA Republicans are in full meltdown," he added.

Biden admin under fire for burning taxpayer funds on UN climate summit trip

The Biden administration is facing heavy criticism from a Senate Republican leader for sending dozens of representatives, including Vice President Kamala Harris and multiple Cabinet members, to the United Nations climate summit.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's ranking member, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., sent a flurry of letters to members of President Biden's Cabinet on Monday, demanding they justify trips to the U.N.'s COP28 summit in Dubai, which began last week and is set to conclude on Dec. 12. Barrasso questioned why officials couldn't attend the event via available virtual means.

"A significant number of Biden bureaucrats will be traveling across the globe on the taxpayer's dime, all in an effort to advocate for these anti-fossil fuel initiatives," Barrasso wrote in the letters. "They will, of course, utilize fossil fuels throughout their travels while ballooning their own carbon footprint."

"Even though COP28 has established a dedicated virtual platform to foster online participation, federal climate crusaders will gleefully spend the hard-earned money of the American people on airfare, hotels, and fine dining as they participate in person," he continued. 

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Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack were among those whom Barrasso sent letters to Monday.

The U.S. delegation at the annual climate conference is being led by Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and includes Harris, Blinken, Vilsack, White House clean energy czar John Podesta, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and several other senior administration officials.

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"Taxpayers will not and should not stand for this hypocrisy. This pattern of behavior suggests a troubling disconnect between public duty and the prudent use of taxpayer funds," Barrasso's letters to the Cabinet secretaries concluded. 

"As stewards of public funds, it is imperative that federal agencies demonstrate consistency in their actions and policies, especially in matters related to environmental responsibility and fiscal accountability."

He then listed a series of questions for each agency head, asking how many officials they are sending to COP28, the estimated taxpayer costs of those travels, the projected carbon emissions from those travels and whether there was any effort to reduce the carbon footprint of COP28 travel.

Meanwhile, since the conference started, the U.S. delegation has been busy committing to various initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming, but which experts have warned may lead to higher consumer costs. For example, the U.S. finalized regulations targeting methane emissions of the oil and gas sector and vowed to shutter all remaining coal-fired power plants.

"It’s safe to say that there literally will be hundreds of initiatives that will be announced, many of them coming from the United States, but also many coming from other parts of the world, and I think it’s going to be a very exciting presentation of a global effort that is taking place, even though it’s not happening fast enough or big enough yet," Kerry told reporters Wednesday.

"What is very clear to us – and we will be pushing this the next two weeks that we are here negotiating – we have to move faster," Kerry added. "We have to be much more seized of this issue all around the planet. There’s too much business as usual still."

The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ted Cruz rips Buttigieg at CPAC: ‘What the hell does this guy gotta do to get fired?’

Sen. Ted Cruz on Thursday tore into Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for waiting nearly two weeks before addressing the toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, and openly wondered how the embattled secretary is still in his job.

"Pete Buttigieg – what the hell does this guy gotta do to get fired?" Cruz asked at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference just outside Washington, D.C. "At this point it’s a bar game . . . like, what else could he do?"

Buttigieg waited 10 days before talking about the train derailment that led to the chemical spill, and that’s one of several black marks on his performance as a cabinet secretary in the Biden administration. Buttigieg has been criticized for on over-reliance on expensive private air travel, even as he watched airlines cancel thousands of flights in 2022, in part because of a system failure at the Federal Aviation Administration late last year.

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Buttigieg has also come under criticism for making arguments that the federal highway system is racist, while coming close a few times to a rail strike that could have crippled the economy.

Cruz said that Buttigieg’s late and tepid response to the environmental disaster is a sign that he and the entire Biden administration aren’t interested in helping people who live in predominantly conservative districts.

"The Democrats don’t give a damn about East Palestine, because it’s a blue-collar, red place, and they’re like, ‘To hell with you,’" Cruz charged. "If you were a bunch of transgender tech workers, you’d have the entire Biden cabinet down there for a listening session and sit-in to feel their pain."

INSPECTOR GENERAL INVESTIGATING PETE BUTTIGIEG’S EXTENSIVE PRIVATE JET TRAVEL AFTER FOX NEWS DIGITAL REPORT

Earlier this week, the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General said it was opening up an investigation into Buttigieg’s use of private jets for travel, which followed a Fox News Digital report that said he has taken at least 18 taxpayer-funded private flights since taking his job.

A department spokesman said that officials "welcome this independent audit."

On the CPAC stage Thursday, Cruz added that President Biden has been "completely AWOL" on the derailment.

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Cruz gave credit to Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, for sticking with the community and making videos showing evidence of chemicals spilling into waterways. He said that Vance, who shared a stage with him at the CPAC event on Thursday, has done a "fantastic" job sticking up for his voters.

"But J.D., alongside Donald Trump, came there and guilted the administration, and that was powerful as hell," Cruz said.

Waltz, House Republicans drop resolution condemning Buttigieg and saying he ‘should resign’

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., is leading a House Republican resolution condemning Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and calling on him to resign.

Waltz and several of his fellow lower chamber GOP lawmakers introduced the resolution on Tuesday demanding Buttigieg resign over his track record as a Cabinet secretary.

"Whether it’s waiting weeks to visit East Palestine, vacationing in Portuguese wine country during vital union negotiations, his extended absence during one of the largest shipping crises we’ve faced, or his failure to prevent massive aviation groundings, Secretary Buttigieg has shown an inability to carry out the duties of his office," Waltz told FOX News Digital.

INSPECTOR GENERAL INVESTIGATING PETE BUTTIGIEG’S EXTENSIVE PRIVATE JET TRAVEL AFTER FOX NEWS DIGITAL REPORT

"It’s time for him to resign," the Florida Republican added.

The resolution, obtained by Fox News Digital, blasts Buttigieg as having "failed to mitigate or effectively respond to multiple national crises" and that his "ineptitude has jeopardized the safety and prosperity of the American people."

The lawmakers highlighted several controversies in Buttigieg’s career as transportation secretary, such as the secretary being "absent during a historical supply chain crisis when United States ports faced a record backlog of ships stranded off of United States coasts," as well as the "more than 15,000 flights" canceled under his watch in "the worst and most costly single airline operational disruption in the history of United States aviation."

Waltz and the Republicans said Buttigieg "neglected his duties and left the country to vacation in Portuguese wine country amidst ongoing negotiations of an impending railroad labor strike, leaving Congress to act in order to prevent the impending rail workers strike."

The lawmakers also hit Buttigieg for the "preventable malfunction in the Notice to Air Mission’s System" on January 11, 2023, where "the Federal Aviation Administration was forced to impose the largest nationwide ground stop since the attacks of September 11, 2001" as well as his sluggish response to the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment and toxic chemical spill.

Additionally, the lawmakers slammed Buttigieg as having "repeatedly demonstrated a gross level of incompetence and apathy in his role as Secretary of Transportation" and "has lost the confidence of the American people," calling on him to "resign."

Joining Waltz on the resolution are several of his GOP colleagues, including Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Ryan Zinke of Montana, Mike Collins of Georgia, and Greg Steube of Florida.

Buttigieg has been under GOP fire in the aftermath of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment and toxic chemical spill.

Collins recently published an opinion piece with Fox News Digital calling on Buttigieg to resign.

The congressman told Fox News Digital that impeachment is not off the table, should Buttigieg not resign.

GOP Rep. Collins blasts Buttigieg for Ohio response, says impeachment not off the table

FIRST ON FOX: A Georgia congressman blasted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for his response to the Ohio train derailment and toxic chemical spill, saying impeachment is not off the table.

Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., a freshman Republican who ascended to Congress in the 2022 midterm elections, weighed in on the Transportation Department’s response to the toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.

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Collins said, "They should have shown up immediately" and that "any time we have a problem, as far as small businesses are concerned, you get right to the scene and see exactly what's going on, so you can assess the problem" and "figure out what the solution is."

"Yeah, they sent people up there, but… this thing was a major catastrophe and something like that garners the head of the department showing up," Collins said.

"And, you know, he just was bent on not going," the congressman continued. "And there's reasons why he did that."

"That’s just another, in my opinion, another clear example of this agency and the fact that they have got their sights set on stuff other than trying to improve the infrastructure of this country," Collins said. "And that’s the woke culture that this guy is promoting."

Collins said that whether it’s a train derailment, "planes almost landing on top of each other," or "some person deleting a file that shuts down a whole industry, there's something else that is going on besides what you see," calling them "results of an administration that is pushing a woke culture."

The Georgia Republican also noted the CEO of the rail company at the center of the toxic chemical spill, Norfolk Southern, recently notified shareholders of the firm’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) push for "cultivating a safe, inclusive culture."

"They're more worried about appeasing an administration and gender pronouns than they are putting grease on wheel bearings," Collins said, adding air traffic controllers are leaving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) "because of the culture."

Collins, whose family runs a three-decade-old trucking business, said Buttigieg was an "identity politics" pick for his position that only knows "how to push" the ideology. He also said the transportation secretary "knows nothing about the infrastructure and transportation problems in this country."

"If we identified the problem, that’s the problem," Collins said. "We’re more in tune with trying to fix culture problems and be woke than we are fixing transportation infrastructure problems."

"The solution is… you get rid of Pete Buttigieg and get somebody in there that knows what they’re doing and what they’re talking about," the Georgia Republican continued. "We spent over $1 trillion on the infrastructure bill and the rails aren’t safer, roads aren’t any better, and the airports and the runways aren’t any safer."

Collins said Americans are "already seeing" the dangers of woke culture taking root in government, noting that "congestion is crazy" and "not being addressed," and that a person "can’t get from point A to point B."

BUTTIGIEG MOCKED FOR APPEARING TO WEAR DRESS BOOTS WHILE ON THE GROUND IN EAST PALESTINE, OHIO

"We're barely addressing the potholes, the bridges that need to be replaced.… That's where we need to have our focus. They didn't even put in enough money in that infrastructure bill anyway to alleviate congestion, but you're going to see more of that due to the fact that they're more worried about who we call or what we call or making sure that we have the right diversity."

The Georgia Republican said he does not "think anything is off the table" when it comes to impeaching Buttigieg, should he not step down.

Collins also said that, if he were a person living in East Palestine, Ohio, he would think Buttigieg’s delay of travel to survey the rail disaster shows "he doesn’t even care" and that they are "not important enough."

"Pete Buttigieg needs to give you the real reason why he wasn’t there," Collins said. "But when something significant like that happens, a department head ought to be there. He ought to be right there, on the ground."

"In my private sector, we make our living out on the public roads," the congressman also said. "We don’t have an office building that we go to and we’re with the motoring public every day. And it’s important that we keep these roads safe."

"And in order to do that, you need competent people and a Department of Transportation head guiding that ship," Collins added. "And that's what you don't have."

Buttigieg traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, last week to view the derailment. Critics blasted Buttigieg for his choice of dress boots for surveying the toxic chemical spill.

A Transportation Department spokesperson pointed FOX News Digital to a tweet by Buttigieg when asked for comment.

"Beginning in the first hours when USDOT arrived on-site, and continuing for as long as it takes, our department is working alongside our administraiton partners to ensure that the residents in East Palestine are made whole and Norfolk Southern is held accountable," Buttigieg wrote.