EDITORIAL: Buttigieg spent big on DEI, not keeping planes in the sky

Even transportation can be degraded by bad ideology.

The secretary of Transportation isn’t a high-profile Cabinet post. Even those who keep up on politics may not remember that Sean Duffy currently holds the position. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Like cheap and reliable energy, a smoothly running transportation system is a foundational piece of the modern economy. And when something goes wrong, the results can be deadly.

Consider the many problems plaguing the country’s air traffic control system. In January, a U.S. Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet in Washington, D.C., killing 67 people. In a recent hearing, a FAA official admitted that the air traffic controller should have told the airline pilots that a helicopter was nearby. In 2022, an FAA working group attempted to add a warning for helicopters in the area, but the effort stalled out.

In May 2024, the FAA reported that it was around 3,000 air traffic controllers short. Those staffing shortages can delay flights and lead to fatigued controllers. A class-action lawsuit has alleged that the FAA rejected around 1,000 potential air traffic controllers to meet diversity goals. In May, there were major delays at the Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. The FAA attributed this to staffing shortages and equipment problems.

“Our antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce,” the FAA said at the time in a statement.

This isn’t to say that any of this caused the D.C. tragedy. But fixing these problems wasn’t a priority to former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, according to explosive new reporting from the New York Post.

In a meeting, Mr. Buttigieg “told industry executives that air traffic control upgrades would just allow them to fly more planes, ‘and so why would that be in his interest?’ sources said,” the Post reported.

Airline officials complained that “despite the requested changes to the air traffic control systems early in his term, Buttigieg seemed more interested in being ‘good on TV’ than fixing the archaic systems that were flying up to 182 million passengers per year,” the Post wrote.

Instead, Buttigieg bragged about steering more than $80 billion toward projects that fit within the Biden administration’s DEI-inspired Justice40 initiative. The Biden White House said Justice40 would direct 40 percent of certain benefits to “disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.” Mr. Buttigieg bragged that his agency hit 55 percent, not 40 percent.

Mr. Duffy has different priorities. He’s already leading an effort to revamp the U.S.’s air traffic control system. It may not earn him as many TV hits as Mr. Buttigieg, but this will be big win for travelers.