Marco Rubio slams Buttigieg after Transportation Secretary accuses GOP lawmaker of calling for deregulation Geopolitics News

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg traded barbs on Twitter Tuesday about the burning train derailment in eastern Palestine, Ohio.

The GOP lawmaker accused Secretary Buttigieg of going missing during the train derailment and then allegedly lying about his past support for deregulation.

“He’s an incompetent who is just focused on his fantasies about his political future and needs to be fired,” Rubio said, referring to Buttigieg’s 2020 bid for president.

Buttigieg replied that Rubio had signed a letter “obviously written by rail industry lobbyists.”

“It supports waivers that would reduce visual lane inspections,” Buttigieg tweeted. “Now: are you going to vote to help us increase rail safety liability and fines, or not? »

He included examples of what Congress can do to help, writing, “If you’re serious, I’ll work with you on this.”

BUTTIGIEG POINTS FINGER AT RAILWAY INDUSTRY AFTER OHIO TRAIN DERAILMENT; GOP OFFICIALS CITE BIDEN ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES

The back-and-forth came after Buttigieg announced a package of reforms following his warning to Norfolk Southern, the railway responsible for the derailment, to keep its promises to clean up the mess just outside eastern Palestine , Ohio, and help the city recover. He said the Department of Transportation will hold the railroad responsible for any safety violations that contributed to the Feb. 3 crash near the Pennsylvania border.

This video screenshot released by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows the site of a derailed freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, USA. (NTSB/Handout via Xinhua via Getty Images)

“While ensuring the safety of those affected by this accident is the immediate priority, we must also recognize that this represents an important time to redouble our efforts so that this is much less likely to happen again in the future,” he said. Buttigieg said.

Although government data shows that derailments have decreased in recent years, there were still 1,049 last year.

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Buttigieg said railroads and tank car owners should accelerate their plan to upgrade tank cars that carry flammable liquids like crude oil and ethanol by 2025 instead of waiting until comply with the 2029 standard finally approved by Congress after regulators suggested the earlier deadline. He also said freight railways should make more deals to offer their employees paid sick leave to help prevent fatigue.

American railroads were actually deregulated under the Carter administrationin 1980.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.