Inslee on Biden Climate Moves Costing Jobs: ‘Do Not Want to Shackle’ Kids to ‘Dead Weight’ of Jobs That Won’t Exist in Future

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Cuomo Primetime,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) praised President Joe Biden’s climate actions and addressed criticisms that they’ll hurt jobs by stating that fighting climate change helps create jobs and that “We do not want to shackle our children to the dead weight of jobs that aren’t going to exist 30 years from now.”

Host Chris Cuomo asked, “[H]ow do you finesse the aspect of the other party…on this, they’ve got a great angle. Every time you do something that’s green, you’re taking green out of their pockets. Keystone Pipeline, costing jobs. No more drilling, costing jobs. Jobs matter more to people than the environment when you look at polls. How do you bridge that gap?”

Inslee responded that fighting climate change doesn’t hurt jobs, and that the opposite is true.

He added, “Listen, the other side wants to shackle people to a past of an area of declining jobs. This is a reality. We do not want to shackle our children to the dead weight of jobs that aren’t going to exist 30 years from now. We want to give our kids the jobs that are growing, and this is — the number one job creation engine is clean energy. And I couldn’t be more tickled. Look, this is a hallelujah moment from my view. We have crossed the desert of denial and deception about climate change and we have a president who understands how to create jobs and he’s doing that big-time today.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett