At a press conference at the White House this week, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg effectively steamrolled attempts to use a recent bridge collapse in Maryland for political attacks against federal authorities.
Characteristically (considering the past right-wing reactions to transportation disasters), demands for Buttigieg’s resignation even began circulating, though the collapse appears to have been a freak accident spurred by an impact from a malfunctioning ship.
Buttigieg asserted at a gathering led by Biden administration press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that the federal government would be providing comprehensive support for recovery and restoration efforts following the collapse, which sent major portions of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore into the water. Besides the resignation calls, some of the specific rhetoric used against Buttigieg and the Biden administration has featured allegations of being lax on the job, which Buttigieg’s assertions shut down.
“While the investigation and the response continue, President Biden has made clear that this whole administration will be providing support in every respect for the recovery and the rebuilding process,” Buttigieg explained. “From a Department of Transportation perspective, that really comes down to four major focus areas: reopen the port, deal with the supply chain implications until the port does reopen, rebuild the bridge, and deal with the surface transportation implications until the bridge is rebuilt. Each of those is a distinct line of effort, and we’re already taking steps toward each goal.”
Buttigieg also discussed specific assistance available in the present circumstances because of the infrastructure package well-known for President Biden earlier signing it into law. That includes opportunities for directly funding work on roads and bridges around the United States and fresh powers for the federal coordination of ocean shipping that Buttigieg says will help with solving logistical challenges presented here.
“President Biden’s infrastructure package included the establishment of a new freight office within our department to help coordinate goods movement in ways that were not possible before. To be clear, ocean shipping is not centrally controlled the way you might expect with, for example, air traffic control,” Buttigieg explained, adding: “We’re using [the office] now to help the hundreds of different private supply chain actors get better coordinated to keep goods moving.”
