White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki spoke to Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy on Monday after he pressured her to address expected job losses as a result of President Biden’s executive action on the Keystone XL oil pipeline to cancel.
President Biden revoked the permit for the 1,700-mile pipeline on his first day in office, ending a project that is expected to employ more than 11,000 Americans this year. Doocy asked Psaki to comment on when the workers who lost jobs as a result of Biden’s executive order can expect to get a ‘green job’ as a replacement.
‘When is Biden’s government going to allow the thousands of fossil fuel industry employees, whether its pipeline workers or construction workers who are out of work or will soon be out of work because of Biden’s EO, when is it and where is it that they can go for their green work? ? Doocy said.
Doocy referred to Biden’s promise to create ‘high paying unions’ through investments in green energy infrastructure projects. In response, Psaki asked Doocy to present more evidence to substantiate his question.
“Well, I will welcome you to present your data of all the thousands and thousands of people who are not going to get green jobs,” Psaki said. “Maybe you can present it next time you’re here.”
“But you said they would get green jobs, so I’m just asking when that happens?” Doocy said.
Doocy recently quoted the Laborers’ International Union of North America as saying that Biden’s decision to cancel the pipeline would result in the immediate disappearance of 1,000 unions and the elimination of another 10,000 construction workers.
He also took note of recent remarks by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, a longtime Biden alley who recently told Axios on HBO that he did not agree with the president’s decision.
“I wish he did not do it on the first day, because Laborers International is right,” Trumka told Axios. “It cost us jobs in the process and will cost. I wish he linked it more closely to the thing he did second by saying, ‘this is where we create jobs.'”
In response, Psaki noted that Trumka also mentioned in the same interview Biden’s plan to create more unions through green investments.
“As the president indicated when he delivered his first speech to talk about the U.S. rescue plan, he talked about his plans to also present a work plan in the weeks or months that follow,” Psaki said. “He has every plan to do exactly that.”
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Biden’s closure of the Keystone pipeline has provoked controversial criticism over the past few weeks, with Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana among those who pointed to the expected job losses. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “disappointed” by the executive order.
The issue is an early challenge for Biden, who told supporters shortly before the presidential election that he would “be the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen.