Psaki mocks reporter asking about job losses on Keystone pipeline

WASHINGTON – White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday scoffed at a reporter who asked when workers on the canceled Keystone XL pipeline would get “green jobs” promised by President Biden.

Up to 11,000 jobs are expected to be lost as a result of Biden’s first-day decision to immediately halt construction of the pipeline that was supposed to carry oil from Canada to Texas – leaving the Dakotans in the South in shock and 1,000 people immediately out of work.

“Where can they go for their green work?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Psaki during his Monday afternoon press briefing, referring to Biden’s promise to create well-paying union jobs in the green energy sector as his administration is trying to end the country’s dependence on fossil fuels.

“This is something the administration promised and there is now a gap, so I’m just curious when it happens, when these people can count on it?” Doocy added.

“Well, I would certainly welcome you to present your data on the thousands and thousands of people who won’t get green jobs,” Psaki hissed. “Maybe next time you’re here you can introduce it.”

“But you said they would get green jobs. I’m just asking when does this happen? Doocy responded, noting a report from the International Union of Workers of North America that 1,000 unionized jobs on the Keystone project “would immediately disappear.”

Another 10,000 construction jobs expected to be created by the project were also cut by Biden’s move.

A prominent union leader and ally of Biden, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, criticized the move in an interview with Axios in an interview with HBO on Sunday, saying Biden should also have announced where he would replace those lost jobs.

But Psaki swept aside the criticism and made a vague promise that Biden would come up with an employment plan in the coming weeks.

“He has every plan to share more details on this plan in the coming weeks,” she said when asked how Biden would support workers left out of work by the decision.

Biden’s climate czar, John Kerry, was also condemned by Republicans last month as being “out of touch” when he suggested that energy and coal workers affected by climate change efforts could “get away from it all.” put to work to manufacture solar panels ”.

Last month, the Biden administration unveiled its $ 2 trillion Green New Deal-fueled environmental plan, which includes phasing out coal, oil and natural gas as sources of electricity by 2035.