Psaki Silenced When Reporter Asks Where 'Green Jobs' for Laid-Off Energy Workers Are
WH press secretary pressed on fossil fuel worker layoffs
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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki faced tough questions from a reporter who pressed her on when the laid-off energy workers can expect the "green jobs" Joe Biden had promised them.
Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked:
"When is it that the Biden administration is going to let the thousands of fossil fuel industry workers, whether it's pipeline workers or construction workers, who are either out of work or will soon be out of work because of the Biden EO, when it is and where it is they can go for their green job?"
"That is something the administration has promised. There is now a gap, so I'm just curious when that happens, when those people can count on that?"
The press secretary replied:
"Well, I'd certainly welcome you to present your data of all the thousands and thousands of people who won't be getting job."
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"Maybe next time you're here you can present that," she added.
WATCH:
Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline's permit on his first day in office, killing off thousands of jobs it would create in the process.
The decision saw praise from advocates of the so-called “Green New Deal.”
Doocy went on to ask Psaki about AFL-CIO President Richard Trumpka's criticism of Biden for imposing the layoffs without accompanying options for the impacted workers.
"I wish he hadn't done that on the first day," Trumpka told Axios' Jonathan Swan of Biden.
"It did and will cost us jobs...I wish he had paired that more carefully with the thing he did second where he is talking about creating jobs."
WATCH:
AFL-CIO president @RichardTrumka to @jonathanvswan on Biden canceling the Keystone XL pipeline: "I wish he hadn't done that on the first day...It did and will cost us jobs...I wish he had paired that more carefully [with creating jobs].” #AxiosOnHBO pic.twitter.com/3Ba6F6g8GT
— Axios (@axios) February 7, 2021
Psaki noted to Doocy that "Trumka also indicated in the same interview was that President Biden has proposed a climate plan with transformative investments and infrastructure, and laid out a plan that will not only create millions of good union jobs but also help tackle the climate crisis."
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She added:
"And, as the president has indicated when he gave his prime time address to talk about the American Rescue Plan, he talked about his plans to also put forward a jobs plan in the weeks or months following. He has every plan to do exactly that."
Doocy replied:
"But there are people living paycheck to paycheck.
"There are now people out of jobs once the Keystone pipeline stops construction …
"So what do these people who need money now, when do they get their green jobs?"
Psaki responded:
"The president and many Democrats and Republicans in Congress believe that investment in infrastructure, building infrastructure, that's in our national interests, boosts the U.S. economy, creates good-paying union jobs here in America, and advances our climate and clean energy goals, are something that we can certainly work on doing together, and he has every plan to share more about his details of that plan in the weeks ahead."
Last month, the presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, made ignorant and out of touch remarks to Keystone XL Pipeline workers who lost their jobs.
Kerry dismissed the concerns when asked about the massive job losses resulting from the Keystone XL Pipeline permit being revoked by Biden’s executive order.
“What President Biden wants to do is make sure that those folks have better choices, that they have alternatives, that they can be the people who go to work to make the solar panels,” Kerry said.
“They were making them here at home."
