Katie Porter Expertly Fact-Checks Jim Jordan & Others For Brazen Deception

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Democratic Reps. Katie Porter (Calif.) and Jamie Raskin (Md.) — among other Democrats in the House on the chamber’s Oversight Committee — joined each other for a new letter to GOP leadership on the panel, meaning chairman Rep. James Comer of Kentucky. The letter pushes for investigative action targeting the responsible train company after the recent train derailment in Ohio that infamously spilled potentially hazardous chemicals into the environment.

Although federal personnel quickly responded to the scene, arriving within hours for work like testing the air inside what has become hundreds of local residences, Republicans quickly began trying to use what took place as a political cudgel against top leaders like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Trump even visited a local community affected by the wreck, although he seems to have stayed away from train derailment sites throughout his four years in office, despite the many wrecks that took place. Then-Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao also wasn’t visiting these locations. In some of his responses, Buttigieg tried to point out the difference between the early stage after the crash of investigating what happened, which was done in substantial part by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and enacting policy to try and stop similar incidents from later taking place.

The NTSB isn’t under Buttigieg’s area of authority, although a past letter from Republicans on the oversight committee in the House incorrectly identified it as such, asking the Transportation Secretary for materials that covered it — and largely ignoring the role that Norfolk Southern itself, the company responsible for the derailed train, had in the wreck, despite documented problems there like other crashes. Republicans now on the oversight committee include, besides Comer, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), and Jim Jordan (Ohio). Buttigieg has quickly moved to push for policy changes, in Congress and elsewhere, that would strengthen railway safety.

“Families deserve real answers from corporations and government, not partisan games that masquerade as oversight,” Porter said on Twitter. “@OversightDems and I are urging an investigation into Norfolk Southern for its role in the train derailment in East Palestine.” Read the full letter by clicking on the post below: