Americans ‘Deserve To Know’ Who Ran Transportation Department When Buttigieg Took Paternity Leave, Demands Watchdog
- June 3, 2022
Gabe Kaminsky, Daily Caller
The Department of Transportation (DOT) is being sued by a federal watchdog after Pete Buttigieg, its secretary, took paternity leave in 2021 without a White House announcement amid an escalating supply chain crisis.
Protect the Public’s Trust, a group probing ethics issues in the government, announced a transparency lawsuit Thursday seeking to obtain information concerning who was in charge of the DOT when Buttigieg took time off. The Transportation Secretary left in mid-August 2021 for a little over a month, Politico reported.
“Plaintiff deeply respects Secretary Buttigieg’s commitment to his family and understands his desire to spend time with his new children,” the lawsuit stated. “However, he is still the Presidentially appointed, Senate confirmed head of a cabinet-level agency that has wide ranging responsibilities and an annual budget of over $80 billion.”
“Accordingly, the American people deserve to know if someone else was acting as the primary decision maker for any period of time or if the Department was operating at a reduced capacity while the Secretary was on leave,” it also stated.