[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1717-S1719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOMINATION OF MARTIN JOSEPH WALSH
Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, it is not often I come down to the floor
to say I have a lot in common with the Senate majority leader, Senator
Schumer from New York. In fact, in my 6 years in the Senate, I don't
think I have ever done that.
But after reading his remarks prior to the vote that we took
yesterday on the Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh, I thought I would
come down and make a few points on that nominee, that vote, and some
issues I have in common with the majority leader and now-Secretary
Walsh and maybe some issues I don't have so much in common with the
majority leader but I think I do have with Secretary Walsh, which is
why I voted for him.
First, as I mentioned, I, too, supported our now-Secretary of Labor,
Marty Walsh, for some of the reasons that Senator Schumer did. Let me
explain. Secretary Walsh started in the Laborers' Union, Local 223, in
Boston, age 21, following in his father's footsteps. Now, as many
people know, the Laborers are the biggest building construction union
in the country. They build things--pipelines, roads, oil wells,
bridges. They have made America strong. I am a big fan of Laborers and
leaders like Joey Merritt back home and Terry O'Sullivan, whom I am
going to talk a little bit about.
Secretary Walsh followed his father's example and joined the Laborers
in
[[Page S1718]]
Boston. He is also the son of Irish immigrants, which is something that
is near and dear to my heart. And Senator Schumer said he has something
very much in common--yesterday, when he spoke about Secretary Walsh--
with Secretary Walsh because his grandfather was an immigrant from
Eastern Europe who also, when he came over to America, got very
involved with the labor movement. That is really a very common,
powerful story of the American dream, common to millions--Senator
Schumer's family, Secretary Walsh's family, and it is certainly a story
that I have in common with those two.
You see, my great-grandfather was from a family of Irish immigrants,
and he was also very involved in the labor movement. In fact, he was
one of the original cofounders of the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, the IBEW. He was its first grand marshal.
I have something I am quite proud of here. It is a page from the
history books of the IBEW, talking about my great-grandfather's great
work for the IBEW when it first got off the ground.
I look forward to working with Secretary Walsh on helping the men and
women in America, certainly in my State, who build things. They have
succeeded. They rise up and help others rise up--other working men and
women--the way Secretary Walsh's father did, the way Senator Schumer's
grandfather did, the way my great-grandfather did. It is a great
American story.
But I must say that my views and Senator Schumer's diverge on some of
the other things he may have been speaking about when he talked about
Secretary Walsh's nomination yesterday.
One, he was critical of some of the Trump administration's Department
of Labor policies as related to the men and women who build things--
these working men and women--despite the fact that prior to the
pandemic, with some of the policies that we implemented here, the
United States had the strongest economy in decades, the lowest
unemployment rate in 50 years, wages were finally going up after 2
decades of stagnation. And very importantly for the working men and
women of this country, there was a huge expansion and boom in the
American energy sector, ``all of the above'' energy: oil, gas,
renewables, as important to the Presiding Officer as it is to Alaska.
Let me describe one other narrative that I believe certainly is true
that I have seen in my professional life in Alaska--in America but
certainly back home in my State--and that is the narrative that I am
not so sure my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to
highlight. But I am going to highlight it because I think it is really
important, particularly now, and it is this: When national Democrats,
whether during the Obama administration or now, during the Biden
administration, are set up with the choice where they have to choose
between the interests of the working men and women in this country who
build things versus the interests of the extremists--radical
environmental groups who want to kill jobs and shut them down--they
almost always sid with these groups who kill jobs, not the working men
and women of America, not the working men and women of Alaska.
This is true. My colleagues sometimes don't want to admit it, but it
is true. Do you know who else has seen it, and do you know who else I
believe knows it is true? Secretary Walsh as a laborer. He has seen it.
That is another reason why I voted for him.
He and his fellow laborers, whether in Boston or Alaska, also know
that this issue is true. When there is a choice between the working men
and women of America who build things versus the extremists who want to
shut things down, way too often, my colleagues on the other side of the
aisle go with the extremists, not the men and women who build things in
this country.
Now, this narrative is not only continuing under the Biden
administration; it is accelerating, and it has been bad for Alaska, bad
for America, bad for working families, and, to be honest, it is a bit
surprising. President Biden came into office talking about his blue
collar roots, but right now, the record is anything but supporting the
men and women who build things.
Here is a snapshot of what is going on in my State. In the first 4
weeks of the Biden administration, there were eight Executive orders
focused on Alaska--eight. No other State has had that many Executive
orders focused on Alaskan working families.
Day one, ANWR--trying to shut that down. We got that done in this
body. They also killed the Keystone Pipeline--10,000 jobs, laborers'
jobs. Marty Walsh knows a lot about that. It goes on and on and on.
There are Executive orders right now that, from my State's perspective,
are focused on hurting working men and women.
There is another one I will talk about. It is a project we have, a
big energy project in Alaska called the Willow project. This has been
permitted by Democratic and Republican administrations for 25 years to
finally get it going--the Clinton administration, the Obama
administration, the Trump administration, everybody. It is in the
National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, a place set aside by Congress
over 70 years ago for oil and gas development and good jobs. It is not
controversial at all. The Biden administration has put a hold on that.
Here is the estimate. It is a $7 billion project that will produce
American energy and an estimated 2,000 direct jobs on the Willow
project. This isn't some pie-in-the-sky project that we were starting
this winter. There were 2,000 direct jobs, 75 percent of which are
union jobs, and they are saying ``We are going to put a hold on it''--
thousands of additional supporting jobs, and they are going to put a
hold on that. Why? Well, we know why, because in the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals, some of the most extreme radical environmental groups
in the country sued to stop it, and they were successful.
So guess what happened in Alaska this winter during a recession. The
2,000 men and women who were working on this project were given pink
slips and told to go home. That is what happened.
Mr. President, don't just take my word for it. I want to quote again
from Terry O'Sullivan. He is the head of the Laborers, the biggest
construction union in the country. This was his reaction after day one
of the Biden administration, where there was a choice of working men
and women who build things like pipelines or the radical extremist
environmental groups who want to shut down and kill American jobs. It
is a choice--day one, the radical environmentalists win.
Here is what the head of the Laborers--remember, Marty Walsh,
Secretary Walsh is a Laborer from Boston. Here is what the head of the
Laborers, the great American Terry O'Sullivan, said:
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--
Those are the Laborers.
--who will lose good-paying, middle class family-supporting
jobs.
By blocking this 100 percent union project, and pandering
to environmental extremists--
Remember, this is Terry O'Sullivan talking, not Senator Sullivan
talking.
--a thousand union jobs will immediately vanish and 10,000
additional jobs will be foregone.
That is Terry O'Sullivan. Remember the choice: Men and women who
build things and make our country great versus extremist groups like
the Center for Biological Diversity--they go with the extremists.
Here 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 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 [of the
Biden administration]. Let me be . . . clear.
This is Mark McManus still talking.
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 members and workers out of work.
This is why the Secretary of Labor we just confirmed--and I was glad
to support him because he is a Laborer. He knows how to build things.
He knows these politics. This is why it is important to have his voice
because
[[Page S1719]]
the voice of the extremist is much stronger in this administration. It
is not just policies of killing union jobs--the men and women who build
things for America--but if you listen, it is how the new members of
this administration talk about these jobs. Listen. You have to listen,
and what you hear is a condescending tone as it relates to these jobs.
You may have heard John Kerry and Gina McCarthy, the climate change
czars in the White House, who were saying in one of their press
conferences that we need to help people make ``better choices'' on
their jobs. That is pretty condescending. They are talking about
laborers. They are talking about my oil and gas workers in the great
State of Alaska or in Colorado.
The Secretary of Energy, in her confirmation hearing, talked about
how some of the jobs might have to be ``sacrificed.''
Even in the Environment and Public Works Committee--and I am a very
bipartisan guy--some of my Senate colleagues on the other side of the
aisle were recently talking about: We need to encourage people to get
more ``relevant jobs.''
What is more relevant than powering America?
Until recently, the men and women who built America--pipelines, oil
and gas rigs, roads, bridges, the men and women with dirt under their
fingernails--were celebrated, which is as they should be. They built
this country. They powered this country. They won wars for this
country. By the way, they often fought in wars for this country. Then
they came home. They got good jobs in the building trades as laborers,
operating engineers, pipefitters, teamsters, IBEWs--the IBEW like my
great-grandfather helped start. Not so much anymore.
The new Secretary of Energy is now calling them ``fossil workers''
who are from ``fossil communities.'' I am not kidding. Listen to her. I
have been trying to give them a little bit of advice: Don't use that
term. It is condescending. You are talking to workers as if they are
some kind of dinosaur that should be put in a museum. Communities?
Fossil communities? Really?
Madam Secretary, if you are listening, ditch that language. It drips
with an attitude of being condescending toward these great Americans.
Well, I was just home in my State with a bunch of these so-called
``fossil workers'' this past weekend. These are some of the best, most
patriotic Americans anywhere. They are tough; they are hard-working;
they love their country, but I will tell you they are concerned. They
are concerned. Why? Because they know that exactly what I have been
talking about here is happening--the radical, extremist environmental
groups want to kill and are killing jobs.
By the way, as for that lawsuit I talked about on the Willow Project,
200 Alaskans were sent home during a recession. Men and women who have
to pay mortgages and pay tuitions were sent home.
So my workers in the great State of Alaska are concerned. They know
that these groups they are sending have a beeline into the White House
and that they want to kill jobs--energy jobs--in my State and in
America. They are worried that the majority now, the Senate majority,
has similar views, so they are nervous.
Yet I am hopeful on one thing. Given his background and his
heritage--now I am talking about the Secretary of Labor, Secretary
Walsh.
I believe that, when the decisions are made--and I hope when the
decisions are being made in the Biden administration to kill more good-
paying energy jobs that built this country--and when they are coming
before the Biden administration, the new Secretary of Labor is going to
stand up for the working men and women, stand up for the laborers in
Boston whom he knows so well or the laborers in Alaska whom he knows so
well and look at the other Cabinet members and say: Not on my watch. We
are not going to kill any more of these jobs.
That is what I am hopeful for. That is what he committed to me to do,
and that is why I voted for Secretary Walsh as the new Secretary of
Labor.
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