OLYMPIA, Wash. — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg traveled to Washington state to discuss funding coming to airports cross the state.
Horror stories and viral photos of security lines taking travelers at Sea-Tac longer than two hours to get to their gates made it to Washington, D.C.
“I saw the pictures,” Buttigieg said.
Buttigieg, on a two-day tour of the state of Washington, touting the billions in federal funding coming to the state under the 2021 infrastructure package, noted $110 million will go towards improvements at airports in the state and nationally.
“We are investing in airport terminals across the country, including improvements in spaces where passengers go through for security checkpoints. What goes on in baggage claim, even really basic things like escalators elevators,” Buttigieg said.
What about hiring more Transportation Security Administration agents?
“Part of it has to do with staffing, part of it has to do with the physical space, often the airport terminals we have were not built for the kind of passenger flow we have now, so the answer will be different in each airport,” Buttigieg said.
In a sit-down interview with KING 5 News Friday, Buttigieg said the Biden Administration is working to get rising gas prices under control.
Watch the full interview here:
He said the blame lies in a reliance on foreign oil and oil companies looking for profits.
"It's not like the oil company is, when they're setting the prices for the next hour of what we're going to pay, is calling the president to check what they ought to be," Buttigieg said. "There are some things we can do and we’re doing them aggressively.”
He said the administration is working to make electric cars more affordable and the infrastructure package will make charging stations more common.
"We've got to make it as easy to charge your car as it is to fill up at a gas station," Buttigieg said. "We have funding to make sure there's a national network of chargers that you never go more than 50 miles on our highway network without having chargers."