[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 13 (Friday, January 22, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S101-S102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I want to congratulate now-Secretary 
of Defense Lloyd Austin on his confirmation to be Secretary of Defense. 
I spoke yesterday about his confirmation, the two votes that had to 
happen. I had the honor of introducing this great American at his 
confirmation hearing at the Armed Services Committee. I served with him 
in the military many years ago. And I think he is going to be an 
important addition to President Biden's team.
  One of the things that we have been working on, over the last several 
years, is rebuilding our military after drastic cuts by the Obama-Biden 
administration. Hopefully, we are not going to see that again. One of 
the reasons I was strongly supporting now-Secretary Austin was because 
I believe--and I certainly hope this is a correct belief, and I have 
commitments from him--he won't agree with that, although I am sure 
some, unfortunately, in this body and others in the Biden 
administration are going to agree with drastic cuts to the military. It 
will hurt readiness. So one of the reasons that I think he is going to 
be a good Secretary is not just his exceptional character, humility, 
leadership but because he knows what will happen if there are dramatic 
cuts like there were in the second term of the Obama-Biden 
administration to our military. Not good.
  One of the things I had the opportunity to talk to him about--one of 
the things that has been a huge positive for America over the last 
decade, for so many reasons, is that we have become the world's energy 
superpower again--like we were, essentially, during World War II.
  What do I mean by that? Prior to the pandemic, we were the No. 1 
producer of oil. Yes, people still need to use oil. I know some of my 
colleagues in this body don't believe that, but it is true; the No. 1 
producer of natural gas, clean burning natural gas. We are starting to 
export it all around the world; No. 1 producer of renewables. So all of 
the above, America is the superpower of energy.
  This is good. It is great for the national security of our Nation, 
for a whole host of reasons. General Austin understands that--Secretary 
Austin understands that. It is great for jobs. In the 2008-2009 
recession, the No. 1 sector of the economy that got us out of the great 
recession was the energy sector, in terms of GDP growth and jobs.
  It is great for the environment. Why do I say that? Some people tilt 
their heads. It is great for the environment because in America--
certainly, in my State, Alaska--we have the highest standards on the 
environment of any place in the world by far. It is not even close. If 
you need energy, which you do, you should do it, produce it in the 
place that respects the environment the most--not Russia, not Saudi 
Arabia--America, Alaska.
  It is good for energy security. It is good for manufacturing low-cost 
natural gas throughout the country. Like I said, it is really good for 
jobs. These are really good jobs. Resource development jobs are really 
good jobs. They support working families and the middle class. 
Everybody knows that. That is a good thing that is happening in the 
United States of America.
  There are some fringe groups that don't like energy. Unfortunately, 
some of my colleagues in the Senate don't like hydrocarbons. By the 
way, as we became the world's energy superpower, our greenhouse gas 
emissions declined probably more than any other industrialized economy 
in the world. Why? Because natural gas is clean-burning. So this is a 
win-win-win-win-win on so many fronts.
  Here is why I am speaking right now: Because it is all at risk. It is 
all at risk. The first few days of the new Biden Administration have 
seen an unprecedented assault on resource development and energy jobs, 
an attack on the men and women--working men and women with good wages--
who produce really important resources for this great Nation and now 
for other countries because we export a lot of these resources. It is 
an assault on good energy jobs, good resource development jobs that 
have been the bedrock of millions of middle-class Americans for 
decades.
  Let me just give you an example, just in my State. Everybody knows 
about ANWR, right? This body moved in terms of legislation for leases. 
We did it the right way, with a law passed by the Senate and the House, 
signed by the President to move forward on leases.
  The first day on the job, the new President decides he is going to 
suspend everything with regard to ANWR. OK, that wasn't a surprise, to 
be honest, but, of course, it was a huge disappointment. I am not sure 
it is legal. Like I said, we did it the legal way. He is doing it the 
old-fashioned, ``Obama pen and phone'' way. There are probably a lot of 
questionable legalities there. That is one. We were expecting that.
  Here is the other one. We have another part of Alaska called the 
National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, set aside by Congress for oil and 
gas development. It is not controversial. We have been doing it for 
decades. It was originally called the Naval Petroleum Reserve for 
America. This is not controversial. And we have a lot of energy 
projects in the NPRA that are ongoing. Heck, even the Obama-Biden 
administration allowed us to drill there because that is what Congress 
said for decades, and it is good for the country.
  We need energy. We need energy. So if we need it, shouldn't we get it 
from America? Shouldn't we get it from American workers? That is better 
than getting it from Russia. The NPRA is a really important area of 
America's energy production in my State--the National Petroleum Reserve 
in Alaska. It has been that way for decades.
  So there is a moratorium on any more permits for energy production in 
the NPRA yesterday. I woke up to text messages from Alaskans saying: 
Senator, help us. My little company is going to go out of business. I 
have to lay off a bunch of workers.
  Workers who are doing what? Producing American energy.
  Since when was that bad, Mr. President? Since when was that bad?
  One more thing, they say: Well, it is only a 60-day moratorium.
  In Alaska, because we have the highest standards in the world on 
producing energy, exploring for energy, we only do exploration in the 
winter. It costs more for energy companies. Why do we do that? Because 
it is the high standards that we have--the highest standards of any 
place on the planet Earth. What do I mean by that?
  We build what are called ice roads and ice pads on the tundra when we 
explore and when we drill. That means we just do it in the winter. You 
build these ice roads and ice pads that cost a lot of money and when 
you move equipment across the tundra on ice, you drill for 3 months and 
when the winter is over, you move it off. The ice melts, and there is 
not one tiny impact. It is called zero-impact drilling and exploration.
  I used to be in charge of this in Alaska. I am very familiar with it. 
We have the highest standards on the planet. So if you put a 60-day 
moratorium on drilling on the NPRA, guess what. You lose the whole 
season. You lose the whole season. That is what the Biden 
Administration did yesterday. I literally have people back home in my 
great State calling frantically saying hundreds--if not thousands--of 
jobs are at risk. That was day two of the Biden Administration: Let's 
crush every single energy job in America.
  Why? I don't know why. I don't know why.
  Since when is it bad to produce energy for your fellow Americans? We 
need it. We have the highest standards in the world. These are great 
middle-class jobs. But on day one in this administration, they are 
attacking the

[[Page S102]]

men and women who produce energy for this great Nation--shameful.
  Now, it is not just me who is a little bit upset. You can tell I am a 
little bit upset. The Keystone pipeline was canceled again--again, no 
idea why they would do that. There is nothing about climate change. As 
a matter of fact, that pipeline was going to be all union jobs, and 
they had it developed and worked on in a way that was going to be 
emissions neutral.
  Here is the head of the Laborers' International Union of North 
America--LIUNA, the laborers. Terry O'Sullivan is a great American. I 
know him well. His father was a marine. He served in the Chosin 
Reservoir during the Korean war.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the 
Record a statement by Terry O'Sullivan on behalf of the Laborers' 
International Union of North America
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  Canceling Keystone Kills Union Jobs


Killing good union jobs on day one with nothing to replace them, is not 
                          building back better

       Washington, DC (January 20, 2021).--Terry O'Sullivan, 
     General President of LIUNA--the Laborers' International Union 
     of North America--made the following statement today:
       The Biden Administration's decision to cancel the Keystone 
     XL pipeline permit on day one of his presidency is both 
     insulting and disappointing to the thousands of hardworking 
     LIUNA members who will lose good-paying, middle class family-
     supporting jobs. By blocking this 100 percent union project, 
     and pandering to environmental extremists, a thousand union 
     jobs will immediately vanish and 10,000 additional jobs will 
     be foregone.
       We had hoped the new Administration would make a decision 
     based on the facts as they are today, not as they were 
     perceived years ago. The Keystone XL pipeline of today is 
     dramatically different than the pipeline rejected while 
     President Biden was in the Obama Administration. In an 
     agreement with North America's Building Trades Unions, the 
     project owner, TC Energy, had committed $1.7 billion to 
     operate the pipeline with renewable energy and achieve net-
     zero emission within two years--all using union workers. 
     Their commitment amounted to the equivalent of taking 650,000 
     cars off the road, one of the largest renewable energy 
     investments ever.
       We support the President's campaign to ``build back 
     better.'' But for union members affected by this decision, 
     there are no renewable energy jobs that come even close to 
     replacing the wages and benefits the Keystone XL project 
     would have provided. Killing good union jobs on day one with 
     nothing to replace them, is not building back better. 
     Hopefully, the Biden Administration will not continue to 
     allow environmental extremists to control our country's 
     energy agenda at the expense of union construction workers 
     being forced to the unemployment lines.

  Mr. SULLIVAN. This is a statement by Terry O'Sullivan:

       The Biden Administration's decision to cancel the Keystone 
     XL pipeline permit on day one of his presidency is both 
     insulting and disappointing to the thousands of hard-working 
     LIUNA members who will lose good-paying, middle class family-
     supporting jobs.

  By the way, LIUNA is the largest labor union in construction, the 
largest labor construction union in America--500,000 members.

       By blocking this 100 percent union project, and pandering 
     to environmental extremists, a thousand union jobs will 
     immediately vanish and 10,000 additional jobs will be 
     foregone.

  That is day one. This isn't me talking, the Senator from Alaska. This 
is the head of LIUNA.

       We support the President's campaign to ``build back 
     better.'' But for union members affected by this decision, 
     there are no renewable energy jobs that come even close to 
     replacing the wages and benefits the Keystone XL project 
     would have provided. Killing good union jobs on day one with 
     nothing to replace them is not building back better.

  This is, again, Terry O'Sullivan, head of LIUNA.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the 
Record a statement by Mark McManus
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       Mark McManus, General President of the United Association: 
     ``In revoking this permit, the Biden Administration has 
     chosen to listen to the voices of fringe activists instead of 
     union members and the American consumer on Day 1. Let me be 
     very clear: When built with union labor by the men and women 
     of the United Association, pipelines like Keystone XL remain 
     the safest and most efficient modes of energy transportation 
     in the world. Sadly, the Biden Administration has now put 
     thousands of union workers out of work. For the average 
     American family, it means energy costs will go up and 
     communities will no longer see the local investments that 
     come with pipeline construction.''

  Mr. SULLIVAN. This is Mark McManus, General President of the United 
Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters. They were going to build 
the Keystone pipeline, too, just like the LIUNA members.

       In revoking this permit, the Biden Administration has 
     chosen to listen to the voices of fringe activists instead of 
     union members and the American consumer on Day 1. Let me be 
     very clear: When built with union labor by the men and women 
     of the United Association--

  Mr. McManus's union--

     pipelines like Keystone XL remain the safest and most 
     efficient modes of energy transportation in the world. Sadly, 
     the Biden Administration has now put thousands of union 
     workers out of work.

  Let me close with this. There are a number of Senators who want to 
meet directly with the President on this issue. By the way, when they 
made these announcements about Alaska, no one from the Biden 
Administration reached out. No one called me. No one called Senator 
Murkowski. No one called Congressman Young. You would think if they 
were going to kill hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs in your State, 
that somebody would have reached out to us.
  I just spent the last week working hard to make sure the Biden 
Administration's Secretary of Defense got confirmed. I probably worked 
harder than any other Senator in this body on that issue. I did that 
because I think it is going to be good for the military, good for 
America.
  But we are trying. We are trying. I haven't heard from one person on 
the Biden Administration. A number of us tried to request a meeting 
with the President. The President talks a lot about his blue-collar 
background. Great, but guess what: The President is killing blue-collar 
jobs right now by the thousands. A lot of them are in my State.
  I hope somebody in the new administration is listening to this. I 
hope he realizes what he is doing. We are in this pandemic. Our economy 
needs to grow. We have high unemployment. The idea that you would start 
your administration by targeting the men and women who have built this 
great Nation, who have good-paying jobs is astounding to me.
  Mr. President--I am not talking about the President of the Senate, 
Madam President, I am talking about the President of the United 
States--you need to listen to us. This is not a good start. You talked 
in your inauguration about putting yourself in other people's shoes. 
Well, I hope you put yourself in the shoes of the energy workers in 
America whom you are crushing right now. Put yourself in their shoes 
and maybe rethink these crazy, crazy policies that are only harming 
Americans throughout the country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  (Mr. WARNER assumed the chair.)
  (Mrs. GILLIBRAND assumed the chair.)
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kaine). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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