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Buttigieg touts Biden job creation as he nears term end

U.S. Transportation Secretary and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks to the audience Wednesday at IBEW Local 153's training facility, as he takes prepared questions from Mayor James Mueller.
Jeff Parrott/WVPE
U.S. Transportation Secretary and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks to the audience Wednesday at IBEW Local 153's training facility, as he takes prepared questions from Mayor James Mueller.

With just a few weeks left in office, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came back to South Bend Wednesday to tout the work accomplished by President Biden’s administration.

Buttigieg started the day meeting with a class of apprentices at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 153 that’s twice the size of last year’s class. The former South Bend mayor then shared a stage at the union’s training facility with his successor, Mayor James Mueller, who asked him prepared questions before a full crowd.

Over the next year, Local 153 training director Joseph Gambil said the local is scheduled to work 38 projects funded by Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. That will require over 2.7 million labor hours over the next 12 months, breaking their old record by almost 700,000 hours.

Buttigieg vowed to always remind people of Biden’s leadership in making that work possible.

"Some of the people who tried to block this legislation and this strategy will be among the first to appear at the ribbon cuttings," he said. "Mark my words, though I do not know in what capacity, I will be there to remind folks who was with us and who was against us when we sought to get these projects done."

Buttigieg later planned a stop at South Bend International Airport, where he would ride the South Shore to Chicago, a trip that’s been made shorter with money from the infrastructure law.

Parrott, a longtime public radio fan, comes to WVPE with about 25 years of journalism experience at newspapers in Indiana and Michigan, including 13 years at The South Bend Tribune. He and Kristi have two children currently attending Indiana University in Bloomington. In his free time he enjoys fixing up their home, following his favorite college and professional sports teams, and watching TV (yes that's an acceptable hobby).