Buttigieg smacks down GOP attorney general who said lead pipe poisoning is 'speculative'

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, took to X on Friday and raised eyebrows with an impassioned attack on federal programs to remove lead pipes.

"Biden wants to replace lead pipes," wrote Kobach, referencing a line from President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address. "He failed to mention that the unfunded mandate sets an almost impossible timeline, will cost billions, infringe on the rights of the States and their residents — all for benefits that may be entirely speculative."

Lead is a powerful neurotoxin that for much of the 20th century was used extensively in plumbing, gasoline, and paint. Experts now believe there is no safe exposure level for lead, and that it particularly harms children.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had some choice words in response to Kobach's defense of leaving lead pipes in place.

"The benefit of *not being lead poisoned* is not speculative. It is enormous," wrote Buttigieg. "And because lead poisoning leads to irreversible cognitive harm, massive economic loss, and even higher crime rates, this work represents one of the best returns on public investment ever observed."

Kobach, a hard-right Trump loyalist, previously served as Kansas' Secretary of State, where he launched nationwide crusades to purge voter rolls in the name of hunting for fraud. He later ran unsuccessfully for governor before being elected attorney general of the state.