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Energy secretary claims Biden's infrastructure bill will protect US jobs - YouTube
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energy secretary jennifer grantham to
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talk about this thank you for being here
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today and good morning to
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you good morning watching and listening
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to the president yesterday does it seem
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like this bill's getting a haircut
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already
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well you know it's a great question bill
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because first of all of course
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um the congress is not in session so he
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hasn't had a chance to sit down face to
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face
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with the members of congress which he
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will do and a number of us have been
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doing at least virtually but i think
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that you know
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this this bill is so reminiscent
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of a bipartisan bill that was passed in
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december
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it was the energy act of 2020 which had
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enormous bipartisan support
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investing in the technologies that will
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help us
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win this clean energy future that both
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sides
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voted for so this is really a
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fulfillment of the
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of the down payment that was made in
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that energy act of 2020.
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would you concede he pulled back a
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little bit yesterday already
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well i think that he has said from the
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very beginning that he wants to see
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compromise he wants to have this be
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bipartisan i hate to see
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you know language on either side that
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really sticks people
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uh without recognizing that there are so
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many elements
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that both parties like in this bill and
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that have they have voted for in the
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past
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who doesn't want america to be to create
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the supply chains
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for our own energy security to have
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manufacturing
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in this country who doesn't want to have
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a safe
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electric grid who doesn't want to make
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sure that we
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are building the the technologies of the
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future and not
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allowing our economic competitors to eat
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us for lunch
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there's so much in this bill to like
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that i hope people don't take
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positional arguments especially since
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the american people seem to like so much
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of it that's a great um entree to the
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question i wanted to ask you about on
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in an interview with pbs you had said
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that there are many more jobs in this
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clean energy realm than there have been
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in the fossil fuel industry itself
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but in terms of that supply chain when
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for example
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you ask people to go out and find a
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solar job or a green energy
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a lot of those jobs are in china and
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traditionally the
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jobs in the traditional fossil fuel
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industry have been here in america so if
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we
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try to push too much are we giving more
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jobs
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to china than we are to our own people
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this is the perfect question that you
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have asked because this is why we need
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to bring
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manufacturing here why are we allowing
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our economic competitors
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to take for example battery
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manufacturing for electric vehicles
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and we've got to rely on supply chains
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elsewhere whether it's the critical
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materials that are in those batteries
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or the batteries themselves why are we
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standing by the side of the road and
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allowing china to
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come in and swoop up all of the
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manufacturing of
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of solar panels et cetera so you're
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saying that all of a sudden the solar
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panels are going to be made here
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under this bill i think solar panels
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should be made here
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why would we be buying solar panels from
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a country that has human rights
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violations why wouldn't we be making
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them here why wouldn't we be making the
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supply chain
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for those solar panels here it's insane
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that we have allowed it we've stood by
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and
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watched those jobs go away this american
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jobs act
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has a huge investment in our
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manufacturing and our supply chain i say
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this for michigan
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i say this as somebody who has seen
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these jobs go but what about all the
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people that have lost their jobs already
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thank you madam secretary i
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just wonder about all the people that
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have lost their jobs already once the
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keystone pipeline was
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cancelled within the first six hours of
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this administration and they were told
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by the climate czar john kerry
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to go and find a green energy job or a
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solar job and they can't
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we've talked to many of them they can't
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find those jobs and how long do we
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expect them to wait and what are they
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supposed to do in the meantime this
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yeah this is uh really important that
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these construction jobs for plumbers for
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pipe fitters for sheet metal workers are
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embedded in the core
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of this american jobs act or this
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american jobs plan
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that's what the infrastructure pieces
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are all about they they will get
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jobs that money will flow as soon as
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congress acts this is why it's
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uh this is an urgent moment we are 8.4
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million jobs
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shy of where we were before the covid
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crisis began
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it's why we've got to act on this with
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alacrity
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and move on it so that we can put those
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construction workers to work
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building pipelines for for co2 building
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pipelines for
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hydrogen making sure that we repair
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pipelines that are leaking methane for
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example so many jobs
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that could be in this uh in this
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infrastructure package
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that are supported by both sides of the
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aisle or at least historically
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you've uh gone out of your way to make a
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point about getting republican support
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there was a letter that was produced by
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10 republicans just yesterday
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these this like lisa murkowski and susan
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collins and mitt romney
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they're the ones who went to the oval
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office on the first of february saying
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we want to do a deal and they put a deal
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on the table
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well just yesterday joe biden said
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they didn't move an inch but the point
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in early february is that democrats in
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the senate
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went to reconciliation within 24 hours
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of that meeting in the oval office
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so if that's the track record why would
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any republicans get behind your
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plan now well this is
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a different bill that was a rescue
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package we had to get shots in arms
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this is a recovery package
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if you will this is making sure that we
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set our nation
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on the path to win the future and that
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means we must have bipartisan support
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lisa murkowski and and joe manchin are
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the two senators who brought
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democrats and republicans together for
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that energy bill that i described
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that was passed just in december i know
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that leadership exists i know people
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want to be able to vote
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yeah well you got to work with them too
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and i think you would grant that
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correct i'm sorry say that again
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you have to work with them too and i
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think you would grant that correct
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word absolutely thousand percent
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both sides all right madam sex
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we'll see you with jen sake today you'll
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join her at the briefing we appreciate
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you being on with us this morning
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thank you
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