Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has called for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to resign over his failure to handle the train derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month.
The train derailment occurred on February 3 when dozens of rail cars, including 11 carrying toxic chemicals, derailed in a town near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Buttigieg has avoided the site for weeks along with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris – even as former President Trump has visited the site and donated water and cleaning supplies.
Rubio called for Buttigieg’s resignation in a letter to President Biden.
“I write to urge you to request the immediate resignation of U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Buttigieg, who has repeatedly demonstrated a gross level of incompetence and apathy that is detrimental to the safety and prosperity of the American people,” Rubio wrote. “For two years, Secretary Buttigieg downplayed and ignored crisis after crisis, while prioritizing topics of little relevance to our nation’s transportation system. It is painfully clear to the American people that Secretary Buttigieg has little regard for the duties of the Secretary of Transportation.”
“At no time has that been more apparent than the past two weeks. Secretary Buttigieg refused to acknowledge the disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, until his intentional ignorance was no longer tenable,” he continued. “Even after acknowledging the tragedy, he continues to deflect any accountability for the safety of our nation’s rail system. The circumstances leading up to the derailment point to a clear lack of oversight and demand engagement by our nation’s top transportation official.”
Rubio then pointed to other examples that illustrate the “two-year long pattern” of Buttigieg’s negligence, including his absence during the 2021 supply chain crisis and his absence during the possible rail strike last year.
“For two years, the transparency and accountability that you promised to obsessively uphold during your inauguration has been nowhere to be found. The incompetence and failure within your administration cannot continue to be ignored when Americans’ health and safety are at risk. I hope you will change course in order to uphold your so-far-unmet promise to the American people by requesting the immediate resignation of Secretary Buttigieg,” Rubio concluded.