Joe Biden has been president for less than 10 days, yet in that short timespan he has destroyed nearly 75,000 high-paying jobs. This is stunning, considering that the American economy is limping along, with millions unemployed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Given the perilous condition of the American economy, it is flabbergasting that President Biden would even consider killing so many jobs, yet that is exactly what he has done and continues to do.
On his first day in the Oval Office, Biden began his job-killing spree when he signed a proclamation that “pause[d] work on each construction project on the southern border wall.”
According to former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan, the halt in construction of the border wall will eliminate at least 5,000 jobs. “It’s gonna cost them their livelihood … the money they are counting on to feed their families and pay their mortgage, all that goes out the window.” said Morgan.
Yet, Biden’s proclamation to stop construction of the southern wall, during a global pandemic, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his penchant for terminating good-paying jobs with the swipe of his pen.
Also on his first day, which was a busy day indeed, Biden revoked the permit for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. According to the executive order, Biden canceled the permit because, “approval of the proposed pipeline would undermine U.S. climate leadership by undercutting the credibility and influence of the United States in urging other countries to take ambitious climate action.”
The administration’s reason for revoking the permit has been widely disputed. As The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board wrote, “The Obama State Department found five separate times that the pipeline would have no material impact on greenhouse gas emissions since crude would still be extracted. Shipping bitumen by rail or tanker would result in 28% to 42% higher CO2 emissions and more leaks.” By canceling Keystone XL, Biden will be responsible for an increase in carbon dioxide emissions.
Even worse, canceling construction of the Keystone XL pipeline will destroy thousands of jobs.
According to TC Energy, the company that was in charge of building the pipeline, Keystone XL would have created, “approximately 13,000 high-paying union jobs in the U.S. and Canada.” And its construction would have supported, “over 60,000 jobs across North America.”
Yet, those high-paying union jobs, which TC Energy projected would have “employ[ed] more than 11,000 Americans in 2021” and “create[d] more than $1.6 billion in gross wages” no longer exist because of President Biden.
Biden’s coup de grace to the energy industry occurred when he signed another executive order that “directs the secretary of the interior to stop issuing new oil and gas leases on public lands and offshore waters.”
By putting his pen to paper and banning new oil and gas permits on federal lands, Biden single-handedly killed 58,700 jobs in eight western states.
Ironically, at the signing event, Biden celebrated the executive order by claiming, “We'll protect jobs and grow jobs.”
President Biden, in less than 10 days, has destroyed almost 75,000 good-paying jobs. Many in the Biden administration, such as Climate Czar John Kerry, defend their boss by saying that these newly unemployed Americans need to make “better choices” or “make the solar panels.” Statements like those are emblematic of how hopelessly out of touch these people are.
It is easy for a multi-millionaire like Kerry to dismissively mumble that 75,000 hardworking Americans need to make what he considers “better choices” while their bills pile up and their careers are in flux.
The dichotomy between the past four years, in which creating and sustaining American jobs was first and foremost, and the past 10 days, in which destroying livelihoods in the name of climate change has become the new priority, could not be starker.
It also does not bode well for the future of the American economy, national security, or the environment, now that we will depend more on foreign oil shipped via rail and tanker, from nations that are generally hostile to American interests.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is an editor at The Heartland Institute.