United States Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had an interview with Fox News on the recent infrastructure bill President Joe Biden proposed, budgeted at about $2 trillion.
The plan covers things like roads and bridges, but also improvements to the electric grid, broadband internet, water systems, homecare for the elderly and disabled and the development and sales of electric cars and alternative, sustainable green energy sources.
Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer poked at the "only" 5.6% of the plan going towards roads and bridges.
Buttigieg came back at him with a witty remark:
"I don't know why anybody would say it's a mistake to invest in the [electric] grid after what we just witnessed in Texas."
He continued:
"We saw U.S. citizens, living in Texas, melting snow in their bathtubs to be able to flush their toilets."
"That is unacceptable."
You can watch the interaction here:
Co-host Dana Perino argued jobs would decrease, prefacing a video from Fox and Friends of a coal miner who was wary jobs in wind or solar energy wouldn't materialize in his area of West Virginia. Though, during the Trump administration there was a large decrease of jobs in coal, even though many restrictions in the industry were lifted.
Buttigieg came back at them with:
"Coal jobs went down under the Trump administration."
"That's why this bill includes provisions to make sure there are jobs in things like reclaiming mines or we know there are a lot of areas where we have wells that have to be capped."
Buttigieg also noted the auto industry is being heavily invested in so we can be leaders amongst our competitors, like China, and have our cars built in the US.
In an interview with NPR, Buttigieg expanded on the investments in electric cars:
"Another thing to consider, especially with these [electric car] chargers, is that we need to have a nationwide network of charging infrastructure for people to be able to buy electric vehicles with confidence, at least some drivers who are going long distances."
This wasn't the first time Fox News had talked about the infrastructure plan.
Fox helped reveal South Dakota's Republican Governor Kristi Noem doesn't seem to know what infrastructure entails either.
When questioned, "when will the spending stop?" Buttigieg noted we are far behind competitors when spending on infrastructure.
But this plan has been "paid for" by the corporate tax increase happening over the next few years, as he stated in the interview.
Buttigieg said:
"The number one reason infrastructure projects don't get done in this country is they're not funded."
In that same NPR interview, Buttigieg explained:
"Remember, we're proposing a corporate tax rate that is lower than it was under Clinton, Obama, Bush, much lower than it was in the early Reagan years and many other times when America was very competitive."
Twitter praised the Transportation Secretary for schooling Fox News again.
Secretary Buttigieg has schooled Fox News before.
He did not fail to deliver again this time.
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