Republicans bash Biden climate plan as dangerous, job killer
HOUSTON - Perched near a major pipeline, leading to the biggest energy port in the nation - a phalanx of Republican lawmakers offered ferocious push back to the President's plan to drastically reduce production of fossil fuels.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy led the attack.
"If President Biden is serious about any unity, come to Houston. Come to middle America. Come look in the faces of those workers who earn $80,000 a year and tell them why you took their jobs away without even talking to them," said McCarthy.
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Congressman Kevin Brady, author of the Trump tax cuts, predicted Biden's campaign against oil and natural gas will take down one million American jobs, many in Texas.
"Tell them why their jobs don't matter to you, their families don't matter to you and tell them where they can apply for all those good jobs you promised to replace them, because they have bills due now," said Brady.
Others like Former House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul and Congressman Randy Weber argued a rapid retreat from fossil fuels will leave the nation dangerously vulnerable.
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"This punishes the American worker, it kills our jobs and it rewards our enemies," said McCaul.
"President Biden is reversing energy independence, something we in Texas have focused on and fought for for years," said Weber.
And Congressman Dan Crenshaw lashed out at Texas Democrats for their silence, as the Biden climate initiative puts thousands of Houston jobs in peril.
"They talk about compassion all the time. I hear it every single day, compassion, how much compassion they have. Where's Mayor Tuner? Where's Sylvia Garcia? Where's Sheila Jackson Lee. Their constituents work at places like this?" said Crenshaw.
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President Biden's pledge to replace lost fossil fuel jobs with millions of "clean energy" jobs may prove a tough sell because jobs in wind and solar pay less and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics renewable energy production demands a much smaller workforce than oil and natural gas.