The Biden Administration has been facing a seemingly endless onslaught of transportation crises, with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg at the helm. The most recent issue arose on Tuesday morning when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suffered a nationwide technical outage, resulting in a nationwide ground stop and 719 canceled flights.
The failure of the FAA’s NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) system, which alerts pilots and other personnel about airborne issues and other delays at airports across the country, has been a major source of criticism for the Biden Administration. This is just the latest in a string of transportation issues that have plagued the Biden Administration, including a trucker shortage and ships waiting offshore.
Buttigieg offered a dismissive ‘all clear’ on Twitter, claiming that the issues have been fixed:
“I have been in touch with FAA this morning about an outage affecting a key system for providing safety information to pilots,” Buttigieg wrote on social media Wednesday morning. “FAA is working to resolve this issue swiftly and safely so that air traffic can resume normal operations, and will continue to provide updates.”
“FAA has determined that the safety system affected by the overnight outage is fully restored, and the nationwide ground stop will be lifted effective immediately,” he wrote later. “I have directed an after-action process to determine root causes and recommend next steps.”
I have been in touch with FAA this morning about an outage affecting a key system for providing safety information to pilots. FAA is working to resolve this issue swiftly and safely so that air traffic can resume normal operations, and will continue to provide updates.
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) January 11, 2023
Adding to the criticism, Buttigieg recently came under fire after it was revealed he took a vacation to Portugal while his agency and the White House were locked in tense negotiations with rail worker unions to avert a strike that could have had a dire impact on the U.S. economy. The Department of Transportation said the vacation was a “long-planned personal trip,” but the timing of the vacation has been called into question.
It is clear that the Biden Administration and Pete Buttigieg in particular have failed to address the transportation issues facing the country. Despite Buttigieg’s assurances that the FAA’s system is now fully restored and the nationwide ground stop has been lifted, it is difficult to see how these issues will be resolved in the near future.
The Biden Administration and Pete Buttigieg have a responsibility to the American people to ensure that transportation issues are addressed and fixed. Until then, it is up to the American people to take the initiative and make their voices heard. It is time for the Biden Administration and Pete Buttigieg to take the necessary steps to ensure that transportation issues are resolved and our country’s transportation system is running smoothly and securely— Fat chance either of those things will ever happen!