Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell criticized President Biden for taking the “wrong direction” on his first day in office – including removing thousands of American jobs by destroying the Keystone XL pipeline project.
“On the first day of the Biden administration, he took several big steps in the wrong direction,” said McConnell, now the Senate minority leader, on Thursday in the Senate floor.
Noting that Biden does not “owe his election to the extreme left,” McConnell listed several actions that Biden took on Thursday, including returning to the Paris Climate Agreement and withdrawing the license for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
“The priority for Day One was to eliminate thousands of American jobs, including union jobs, disappointing our strong ally, Canada, and to reverse some of our progress on energy security,” said McConnell.
The Kentucky senator also mentioned that the 1,200-mile pipeline project, which would have transported oil from the Canadian province of Alberta to Nebraska, but was vehemently contested by environmentalists and Native Americans, was supported by Canadian President Justin Trudeau. He said the Obama administration’s State Department decided it would not harm the environment.
“But since canceling a pipeline project seems like the greenest thing to do, the new government has eliminated all of those jobs,” said McConnell.
The project – an expansion of an existing pipeline – hit several legal obstacles after it was first proposed in 2008.
He was revived by former President Donald Trump before Biden revoked the license that allowed the pipeline to cross the Canadian border with an executive order saying “it disrespects the US national interest”.
Meanwhile, several senators from the western United States sent letters to Biden on Tuesday asking him to reconsider.
“The project is designed to provide approximately 11,000 jobs by 2021,” said a joint letter, signed by Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Hoeven (R-ND), Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.). “These are real, well-paid jobs that help keep thousands of families employed with food on the table.”
In his own letter, Senator Matthew Rosendale (R-Mont.) Said that ending the project was “in the best interest of our economic recovery and is critical to ensuring American energy independence in the future.”