During an appearance on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg blasted ideas put forward by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) regarding the ongoing wave of gun violence in the United States. After the Uvalde, Texas shooting where 19 kids and two teachers were killed, Cruz has pushed the idea of limiting the number of doors in use at schools.
The idea — in theory — would be to limit points of access at schools for potential attackers, which is ridiculous. What about windows? What about fire safety? “Have one door into and out of the school, and have… armed police officers at that door,” Cruz said, according to The Texas Tribune. Buttigieg, meanwhile, commented as follows:
‘We have a horrific scourge of gun violence in this country. As mayor, as every mayor is doing around the country, you take the steps that you can to reduce community violence, to invest in partnerships to make sure that you’re taking the steps you can locally — but you’re also looking at Washington to say, will anything be different this time? Will we actually acknowledge the reasons why we are the only country — the only developed country where this happens on a routine basis? The idea that us being the only developed country where this happens routinely — especially in terms of the mass shootings — is somehow a result of the design of the doorways on our school buildings is the definition of insanity, if not the definition of denial.’
Watch Buttigieg’s comments on ABC below:
Buttigieg: "The idea that us being the only developed country where this happens routinely — especially in terms of the mass shootings — is somehow a result of the design of the doorways on our school buildings is the definition of insanity, if not the definition of denial." pic.twitter.com/l1v9VrFgcb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 5, 2022
Buttigieg, while on ABC, also spoke against those who would pin blame for high gas prices on President Joe Biden. Inflation and supply chain issues associated with high prices have by no means been limited to the United States. “The price of gasoline is not set by a dial in the Oval Office,” Buttigieg remarked. “When an oil company is deciding hour by hour how much to charge you for a gallon of gas, they’re not calling the administration to ask what they should do. They’re doing it based on their goal of maximizing their profits. It’s been very striking right now to see these oil companies who have become almost ridiculously profitable, and you hear these oil executives on the record talking about how they’re not going to increase production. Why would they? They’re doing great right now.” Buttigieg referenced that Biden has expressed support for a “use it or lose it” policy for drilling permits. Thousands remain unused.
It’s true, of course: there’s no lever in the Oval Office for adjusting gas prices. And the reality is that there have been some significant economic advancements for the U.S. with the Biden administration in charge, including consistently low unemployment and a remarkably rapid rate of job creation, constituting significant recovery from the initial economic ravages of the pandemic. There have also been an array of individual corporate investment initiatives in the U.S. to which Biden has pointed.
“And, as we make the transition from an historic jobs recovery to steady, stable economic growth, companies are investing in manufacturing in America — strengthening supply chains, lowering costs for working families, and securing our energy independence,” Biden said back on June 2. “Two new announcements today will add to that historic manufacturing boom. Ford’s $3.7 billion investment to create more than 6,000 good-paying, union jobs in Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri building new electric vehicles is great news for American workers. Stellantis’ agreement to purchase up to 25,000 metric tons of lithium per year that CTR is producing from geothermal brine in California’s Imperial County sets the U.S. on a path to being a leading producer of sustainably sourced, low carbon lithium. This builds on announced investments by dozens of companies over the past year, from Intel’s $20 billion investment to build semiconductors in America to Tesla, America’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles.”
