Lauren Boebert rages at Pete Buttigieg for caring about climate change but still traveling

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) took to Twitter to call Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg a “hypocrite” for traveling on a “private jet” while promoting measures to combat climate change.

“The Secretary of Transportation has pushed for less air travel ‘to protect the environment’ yet flies around on a private jet,” she wrote. “There’s no denying [Pete Buttigieg] and the Biden administration are a bunch of hypocrites.”

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The Secretary of Transportation has pushed for less air travel "to protect the environment" yet flies around on a private jet.

There’s no denying @SecretaryPete and the Biden administration are a bunch of hypocrites.

— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) June 28, 2023

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Boebert is referring to the longstanding criticism of Buttigieg’s use of government – not private – planes to get around as he does his job instead of flying commercial airlines. Earlier this year, for example, he was criticized for taking a military flight with his husband to represent the Biden administration at the Invictus Games in the Netherlands, even though a military plane could hardly be described as a “private jet.”

Fox News and other conservative media outlets have dogged Buttigieg about his use of government-owned planes but haven’t produced any evidence that he uses them excessively. For example, an article from Fox this week about a Republican senator’s bill to stop Buttigieg from taking “private jet flights” doesn’t say how many private jets Buttigieg has flown on. The article only notes that he has “flown aboard taxpayer-funded jets at least 18 times while in office,” which could include planes operated by the Department of Transportation (DOT), the military, or other federal agencies, but not aircrafts owned by private citizens and donors.

The DOT has said that Buttigieg’s flights on government aircraft have cost $41,905 so far. They said that all but one of his flights were cheaper than the cost of getting him and his staff commercial airline tickets and that the remaining flight involved a Federal Aviation Administration plane that was used for “exceptional scheduling or security reasons.”

The DOT’s inspector general launched an audit of his use of government planes earlier this year.

People mocked Boebert for being so concerned about Buttigieg traveling for his job. Others point out that using the expression “private jet” to refer to planes operated by the government is misleading at best.

Seriously, you need new material for your outrages. pic.twitter.com/0Ft5ea8qN2

— 🌸 🐾 A to the Z 🐾🌸 (@A_tothe_Z_Amber) June 28, 2023

Again, this doesn’t do anything for the voters who elected you. I didn’t/wouldn’t vote for you. But your salary is supposed to be earned by representing us, your district!

— Madmama (@madmamavotes) June 28, 2023

How many flights have you taken since you have been in office, I’m guessing it’s close to 1000

— Enya Donley (@enya_donley) June 28, 2023

We need to invent a new word for the stratospheric level of hypocrisy you and your kind have taken it to.

— T. witter's ucking me again. (@Blacksmitheart) June 28, 2023

It's literally his job, Bobo.

You fly for your "job," too.

This isn't the own you think it is.

— zeroboi⭐️ (@ogzeroboi) June 28, 2023

Since when is a plane owned by the FAA, an agency he’s in charge of, a private jet? And since when do you give a rosy rat’s hind end about the environment? You spend all day embarrassing the poor people you conned into electing you.

— LolLioness🐝💙💛🟧🟦🌻🌊#TeamPeteForever (@LolLioness) June 28, 2023