On the recordJuly 19, 2023
This would require the FAA to submit a report on flight records for the Secretary of Transportation for the previous years. Obviously, as the gentlewoman indicated, it is about Secretary Buttigieg who, I think, has done an outstanding job as our Secretary. This amendment provides no benefit to the FAA. They already know where he has been going, and it would be a waste of the administration's limited time and resources. In fact, there is no reason to think that his flights haven't been for reasons that benefit the United States and the Department of Transportation. Now, if the amendment was something about Senators leaving their States during emergency climate events and going to Acapulco, or to wherever it was in Mexico, I could agree to it, maybe. But that is not what it is about. There is no basis as to why this report should be needed. There are many pressing issues the FAA should dedicate its attention toward in this reauthorization, and the gentlewoman's amendment would detract from those efforts. To that end, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment which has no basis in fact concerning anything Secretary Buttigieg may have done in any way improper. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
