White House press secretary Jen Psaki fought Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy at the White House on Monday after he pressured her to resolve the expected job losses from the executive’s executive action Biden to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline.
President Biden revoked the license for the 1,700-mile gas pipeline on his first day in office, ending a project that was expected to employ more than 11,000 Americans this year. Doocy asked Psaki to comment when workers who missed job opportunities due to Biden’s executive order could expect to receive a “green job” instead.
“When will the Biden government leave the thousands of workers in the fossil fuel industry, whether its pipeline workers or construction workers who are unemployed or soon because of Biden’s EO, when will it go and where can they go behind your green jobs? “Doocy said.
Doocy referred to Biden’s promise to create “high-paying union jobs” through investments in green energy infrastructure projects. In response, Psaki asked Doocy to provide more evidence to support his question.
“Well, I would certainly like you to present your data for all the thousands and thousands of people who will not get green jobs,” said Psaki. “Maybe the next time you’re here, you can present that.”
“But you said they would get green jobs, so I’m just asking when is this going to happen?” Doocy said.
Doocy cited a recent complaint from the North American International Workers’ Union that Biden’s decision to cancel the pipeline would cause 1,000 union jobs to “disappear immediately” and eliminate 10,000 more construction jobs.
He also noted recent comments by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, a former Biden alley that recently told Axios on HBO that he disagreed with the president’s decision.
“I wish he hadn’t done that on the first day because Laborers International is right,” Trumka told Axios. “It cost us and it will cost us jobs in the process. I wish he had more carefully paired with what he did in second place, saying, ‘This is where we are creating jobs.'”
In response, Psaki noted that Trumka also mentioned Biden’s plan to create more union jobs through green investments in the same interview.
“As the president indicated when he gave his prime-time speech to talk about the American Rescue Plan, he talked about his plans to also present a job plan in the weeks or months to come,” said Psaki. “He has every plan to do just that.”
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Biden’s closure of the Keystone pipeline has drawn bipartisan criticism in recent weeks, with Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana among those who pointed to the expectation of job losses. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “disappointed” with the executive order.
The question represents an initial challenge for Biden, who told his supporters shortly before the presidential election that he would be “the most pro-union president you have ever seen.