Fox News' Doocy Makes Jen Psaki Squirm: When Do the Laid-Off Pipeline Workers Get Their Green Jobs?
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has already become known for her floundering and deflecting promises to “circle back” to reporters who corner her with a question for which she’s not already prepared with an answer.
So facing questions from one of the few reporters who forsakes his kid gloves in her briefing room must certainly be a trying experience.
On Monday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy pressed Psaki on when so-called “green jobs” will be available for millions of American workers facing a loss of employment thanks to the Biden administration’s executive order revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Doocy, son of “Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy, was often the only source of any tough questions now-President Joe Biden received when venturing out of his basement during the 2020 presidential campaign.
Now, it appears, he’s taken on the same role in the White House media pool and is confronting Psaki with the same straightforward treatment (it used to be called journalism).
“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 a Biden [executive order], when it is and where it is that they can go for their green job?” Doocy asked a clearly pressured Psaki.
Fox News’s Peter Doocy is back and he’s brought the receipts on energy to Jen Psaki.
Needless to say, she didn’t like that he pressed her on what’s the plan for laid off workers to get these fantastical “green” jobs that Biden and Kerry keep talking about (1/2) pic.twitter.com/czz45M9tXK
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 8, 2021
On his first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order that revoked a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
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The Biden campaign’s website vowed the creation of 10 million “well-paying jobs in the United States” in the clean energy sector, but the administration has yet to put forward any legislation or executive action to this end.
“Well, I’d certainly welcome you to present your data of all the thousands and thousands of people who won’t be getting a green job. Maybe next time you’re here you can present that,” Psaki snarked in response to Doocy’s question.
After Doocy brought up comments made by close Biden ally and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, Psaki pointed to Trumka’s statement that “President Biden has proposed a climate plan with transformative investments and infrastructure. And laid out a plan that would not only create millions of good union jobs but also help tackle the climate crisis.”
She added that Biden has “talked about his plans to also put forward a jobs plan in the weeks or months following.”
Oh yeah, no, totally specific, thanks Jen.
Biden’s “talked about” it. That ought to make thousands of families now wondering how to make ends meet sleep better at night, knowing the president is “talking” about coming up with some sort of “plan” to provide them with work.
Undeterred by the signature Psaki brush-off, Doocy pressed on, questioning why Biden’s National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and climate czar John Kerry have not been back to the White House since the early days of the administration when the Keystone XL pipeline order was signed.
“But there are people living paycheck to paycheck,” Doocy said. “There are people out of jobs once the Keystone pipeline stopped construction. It’s been 12 days since Gina McCarthy and John Kerry were here. It’s been 19 days since that [executive order], so what do those people who need money now — when do they get their green jobs?”
Doocy: “But there are people living paycheck to paycheck. There are now people out of jobs…It’s been 12 days since Gina McCarthy and John Kerry were here. It’s been 19 days since that EO, so what do those people who need money now — when do they get their green jobs?” (2/2) pic.twitter.com/IlRp9iYKlY
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 8, 2021
In pointing to the comments made by Trumka in his Sunday Axios interview, Doocy said Trumka had been critical of the new POTUS’ decision to halt the Keystone XL pipeline as it cost union jobs.
“Well, I wish he had not done that on the first day because the Labor’s International was right, it did and will cost us jobs in the process,” the union boss said of Biden’s executive order.
“I wish he had paired that more carefully with the thing that he did second by saying, here’s where we are creating jobs, we can do mine reclamation, we can fix leaks, and we can fix seeps, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in doing all of that stuff,” he continued in comments which Doocy repeated to Psaki.
This may be new to Psaki, but what Doocy did is what every single member of the media should be doing if they’d like to carry the torch of media integrity we were so frequently informed they were holding high during the Trump presidency.
Biden’s actions have cost thousands of people their jobs as millions of Americans continue to put food on the table.
Revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline did little more than virtue signal to tone-deaf environmentalists — and antagonize tens of thousands of union workers to whom politics boils down to the day-to-day reality of providing for a family.
Fox News’ Peter Doocy is the only one asking challenging questions in the briefing room and it’s very clear Jen Psaki isn’t used to it at all. pic.twitter.com/wHUqZ3mtVa
— Caleb Hull (I’m With the CCP Don’t Ban Me) (@CalebJHull) February 8, 2021
The Biden administration’s promise of 10 million new clean energy jobs is a lofty and fantastical goal, while the job losses his policies have caused in just a few short weeks are very much reality to those facing unemployment and an uncertain future.
Psaki’s inability to answer any concrete questions about the creation of these green jobs seems a strong indication that said jobs are a long way off from coming into existence.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
