WASHINGTON – White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday mocked a reporter who asked when workers at the canceled Keystone XL pipeline would get “green jobs” promised by President Biden.
Up to 11,000 jobs are expected to be lost after Biden’s first decision to immediately close construction of the pipeline that was supposed to carry oil from Canada to Texas, leaving South Dakota stranded and 1,000 people immediately out of work.
“Where is it where they can go looking for their green job?” Fox News journalist Peter Doocy asked Psaki at his press conference Monday afternoon, referring to Biden’s promise to create well-paid union jobs in the green energy sector while his administration tries to end the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels.
“That’s something the administration has promised and now there’s a gap, so I’m curious when this happens, when can these people count on it?” Doocy added.
“Well, I’m sure I’d welcome you to submit your data to all the thousands and thousands of people who won’t get a green job,” Psaki snorted. “Maybe the next time you’re here you can present it.”
“But you said they would get green jobs. I just wonder when this happens? Doocy responded, noting a report from the International Union of North American Workers that found that 1,000 union jobs in the Keystone project “would disappear immediately.”
Another 10,000 jobs expected to be created with the project have also been affected by Biden’s decision.
Biden’s prominent union leader and ally, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, attacked the decision Sunday in an interview with Axios on HBO, saying Biden should also have announced where it would replace those lost jobs. .
But Psaki rejected the criticism and made a vague promise that Biden would advance a work plan in the coming weeks.
“He has all the plans to share more details about this plan in the coming weeks,” he said when asked how Biden would support workers who lost their jobs because of the decision.
Republican Biden climate tsar John Kerry was also condemned by Republicans last month for “out of touch” when he suggested that energy and coal workers affected by climate change efforts could “go to work to make solar panels “.
Last month, the Biden administration unveiled its $ 2 trillion-powered Green New Deal-fueled environmental plan, which includes eliminating coal, oil and natural gas as sources of electricity in 2035.