Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to visit new KC airport, future Panasonic plant
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will speak about electric vehicles on Monday in a day-long trip to the Kansas City area that will include a tour of the future Panasonic battery plant and a visit to the new Kansas City International Airport terminal.
Buttigieg is set to participate in an opening celebration for the airport terminal with Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson, Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and other local officials in the morning. The new terminal will open to the public on Tuesday.
He will then hold a news conference focused on electric vehicle manufacturing at the Panasonic battery plant site in De Soto. He will then visit the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus where he’ll speak with students.
The Panasonic plant is set to employ thousands of people. It will supply batteries to Tesla and other automakers and is part of a wave of new domestic manufacturing that federal officials hope will power a surging electric vehicle market. Buttigieg will be joined by Kansas Lt. Gov. David Toland and Rep. Sharice Davids, both Democrats, at the site.
Buttigieg’s visit will come just days after the secretary traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, the location of a toxic train derailment that has spurred fears of contamination. The Biden administration, including Buttigieg, has faced sharp criticism from former President Donald Trump and other Republican politicians over its handling of the accident.
Monday’s visit by Buttigieg is just the latest stop to the Kansas City metro for the former Democratic presidential candidate turned Biden cabinet official. Buttigieg traveled to Kansas City, Kansas, in October, where he rallied support for Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s reelection. He also visited the city in January 2022 to tout bridge safety funding included in the federal infrastructure law.
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has become one of President Joe Biden’s most prominent messengers in the Midwest. His repeated visits to the Kansas City metro area also highlight the influence of its federal delegation on infrastructure issues.
Rep. Sam Graves, a Republican whose district spans northern Missouri, chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. And Davids, a Democrat representing much of the Kansas side of the metro, was vice chair of the committee in the last Congress.
