Pete Buttigieg says he had a call with Elon Musk to talk about Hurricane Helene because ‘the best thing to do is just to pick up the phone’

“Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says he had a call with Elon Musk, despite their differences — because sometimes, it’s just better to get on the horn with someone and clear things up.
On Friday, Buttigieg refuted a series of claims made by the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. Musk had in an X post accused the government of closing the airspace in Asheville, North Carolina, to block recovery efforts.

Musk also blamed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the government’s disaster relief group, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Buttigieg responded to Musk, writing: “No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call.”

The two men then had a chat via phone call, Buttigieg confirmed in an interview with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki released on Sunday.

“He called,” Buttigieg told Psaki. “We had a conversation.”

Buttigieg told MSNBC that some of the confusion on X stemmed from Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs), a move by the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure safety for aircraft conducting Hurricane Helene rescue and recovery activities.

Buttigieg said, however, he and Musk managed to get to the bottom of what was happening, and sort out problems for pilots helping to get Starlink equipment to disaster-hit areas.

“We were able to take care of it,” Buttigieg said. “And, I think, to me it’s an example of how often the best thing to do is just to pick up the phone.”

Later on Friday, Musk had a more positive tone while replying to a post from Buttigieg on X about the government delivering additional emergency relief to South Carolina.

Musk said, “Thanks for expediting approval for support flights. Just wanted to note that Sec Buttigieg is on the ball.”

Buttigieg replied, writing: “Glad we could address — thanks for engaging.”

Musk and Buttigieg have had public disagreements over everything from tax credits for electric vehicles to the safety of driverless cars.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pete-buttigieg-says-had-call-081754462.html

Democrats slough off attacks on Buttigieg

“People who have worked with Buttigieg in recent months say he is proving the problem-solving mettle he honed in his past jobs as a mayor of South Bend, Ind., and at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. — on a national scale.
“I think he’s worked hard across the board on all the aspects of transportation,” said John Porcari, a former deputy transportation secretary under President Barack Obama and former Biden supply chain envoy. “There’s a lot of moving parts, whether it’s aviation or pipelines, or the highway system, or transit, he’s made progress and pushed hard for everyone to do better on all fronts.””

“Some issues — such as the supply-chain crisis, Southwest’s antiquated crew scheduling system and ailing FAA infrastructure — predate his time in office and are not directly Buttigieg’s fault, but they are his responsibility.

As record-high loads of cargo coursed through the nation’s ports in 2021, Buttigieg took a hands-on approach to the obstacles the traffic posed, says Eugene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.

“This secretary has been a tireless worker around the supply chain,” Seroka said, adding that “behind the scenes Secretary Pete was the guy that was calling up the railroad CEOs … and encouraging them to continue to work as we got this huge surge in railroad cargo.”

“I’ve been through no less than seven economic shocks, from the [savings and loan] crisis, to the Asia currency crisis, the dot-com bubble, the Great Recession and others in between,” Seroka added. “I’ve seen eight to 10 microtrends within these four years where everybody was just talking about supply chain issues. It’s not one person and it surely is not Pete Buttigieg.”

Beyond demanding that Southwest Airlines compensate customers following the thousands of flights it canceled, he also helped steer a complex set of directives ensuring that airplanes could land safely around airports with newly deployed 5G broadband signals. That last crisis had threatened to ground airplanes at major airports across the country last year.”