On Wednesday, Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, blasted the way Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg handled the tragedy that happened when a Norfolk Southern train and a freight train collided in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month.
A Republican from Texas says that worries about the health and environmental risks of the so-called “controlled burn” of dangerous chemicals that leaked out of tanker trucks have not been put to rest.
Cruz argued that Secretary Buttigieg had misled for 10 days about the train crisis. After his lies were found out, he changed his tune and started advocating for a lot of new, tough government regulations to be put in place quickly.
Cruz says that the secretary made a mistake when she relied on “constraints” from the Transportation Department, especially when she brought up a rule about brakes that has since been changed. Cruz said that Jennifer Homendy, who was in charge of the NTSC while Biden was president, had to deny in public that this would have stopped the calamity in East Palestine.
After what happened in East Jerusalem, Buttigieg, as Cruz put it, “released a laundry list of regulatory proposals.”
The senator said that Secretary Buttigieg is trying to “distract even more” by saying that Trump is to blame for the fall of East Palestine.
Senator Cruz replied to the claim by saying, “I know that blaming every problem on President Trump is a common playbook for this administration.” He then cited an article from The Washington Post that showed the claim was false.
After the East Palestine catastrophe, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing to talk about methods to make trains safer. Cruz is the leader of the group.
Buttigieg feels bad that he helped keep the accident secret for so long. He told CBS News, “I was worried about making sure our people on the ground were okay, but I should have said sooner how strongly I felt about what happened.”
At the end of February, Secretary Clinton went to the area, but former President Trump went there just after her.
In his opening remarks on Wednesday, Cruz thanked Ohio Senators J.D. Vance (R) and Sherrod Brown (D) for telling the country about the shooting victims.
“I’m looking forward to working with you and the chairman on a rail safety plan that is truly supported by both parties,” added Cruz.