WATCH: Dem Rep Praises Buttigieg for Making Crash Test Dummies Female

A Democratic representative applauded transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg for fighting “gender inequity” by pushing to include female crash test dummies in car safety testing.

“You also plan to make important investments to address the roadway safety crisis, including the critical funding that would accelerate the development —and this is an area I’ve written to you about—of the use of female dummies in crash testing,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.) told Buttigieg during Thursday’s House budget hearing for the Department of Transportation. “This will start to fight the gender inequity among vehicle safety and crash victims.”

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) highlights the vital work that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is doing to ensure that “female dummies” are used in vehicle crash testing “to fight the gender inequity among…crash victims.” pic.twitter.com/sZj5TqWrnp

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 20, 2023

Buttigieg fell under scrutiny in the hearing for his climate change agenda when Rep. Ryan Zinke (R., Mont.) questioned him on the effect of the Biden administration’s policies on U.S. energy independence.

“How do you get to be energy independent when the components of EV today are all controlled by China?” Zinke asked the transportation secretary. So long as China produces the necessary materials to produce electric vehicles, Zinke said, “our pursuit of EV makes us more dependent on China.”

Female crash test dummies is not the first agenda item Buttigieg has pursued in the name of equity. The transportation secretary last year announced a $1 billion initiative “to build racial equity in roads.”