Instead of modernizing air traffic control, Buttigieg spent millions on DEI policies

The Secretary of Transportation in Biden's administration, Pete Buttigieg, chose to spend billions of dollars on promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies (DEI) instead of replacing the obsolete air traffic control systems.

The Democratic leader, who wants to run for president again in 2028, spent half of the annual budget of the Department of Transportation promoting these diversity policies during his four years leading the agency. 

"He was definitely pushing an agenda," said an airline industry official, noting that Buttigieg had "little or no interest" and took "zero action" to modernize this safety system. 

Biden together with Buttigieg | La Derecha Diario

Buttigieg blamed the airlines 

Although the  infrastructure law that Congress passed for Biden during his term provided the paltry sum of 5 billion dollars to improve the U.S. air traffic control system, the reality is that these  systems have remained outdated since Carter's presidency. 

Various sources told the New York Post that Buttigieg kept blaming the airlines for his failures in the industry while  denying that his department's DEI agenda contributed to the staffing shortage in air traffic control or the lack of progress in safety systems. 

"At first, the Department of Transportation and he were reluctant to admit there was a shortage of air traffic controllers or that this shortage had anything to do with flight delays or cancellations," said an airline industry official.

Biden's protégé approved around 400 grants related to DEI policies during his tenure, according to a federal spending analysis between 2021 and 2024.

The public paid the price

In January 2023, during Buttigieg's term, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) carried out its  first nationwide shutdown since the September 11 attacks in 2001, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. This suspension was due to a failure in the administration's systems. 

In an urgent letter addressed to Buttigieg in April 2024, industry associations warned that at the current hiring pace, the FAA could take up to 90 years to reach its staffing goal in some of New York's critical air traffic control centers.

Meanwhile, as these critical situations unfolded, the former secretary was promoting "Justice40", a program that allocated millions in infrastructure investments for "disadvantaged communities", in compliance with an executive order signed by Biden that sought to "promote equitable outcomes".

Biden's 2021 infrastructure law, for example, included a "equity effort" of 5 billion to install  500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, when only seven stations had been built as of June 2024.