President Biden again ignored reporters’ questions on Tuesday, as they tried to get him to address the classified documents from his time as vice president that were recently found at his Delaware home and the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.

Biden had a bilateral meeting with Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and after the two leaders delivered brief remarks, reporters began hurling questions at the president. They were all met with silence.

‘Will you commit to speak to the special counsel?’ one reporter could be heard asking, in reference to Robert Hur, who was appointed special counsel to investigate the documents and how they were kept.

Biden did not acknowledge the questions as he smiled and continued chatting with Rutte. Meanwhile, White House staff urgently rushed the media out of the room.

‘Thank you. Let’s go, thank you,’ a staffer could be heard repeating.

The same thing happened three times last week. First, Biden refused to answer questions about the documents on Monday. Then the following day, the president did not acknowledge questions after his bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

White House staff quickly herded reporters out of the room, as they did following Tuesday’s meeting with Rutte.

On Friday, Biden had a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio. At the conclusion of the meeting, reporters shouted questions about the appointment of the special counsel. Biden acted like he did not hear them as he shook hands with the prime minister for a photo opportunity.

These instances followed an incident on Thursday, when Biden responded to Fox News’s Peter Doocy, who asked the president, ‘What were you thinking?’ with regard to storing classified information in his garage next to his Corvette.

Biden seemed to acknowledge this, as he responded by saying, ‘By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage.

A Missouri school district was advised by experts at St. Louis Children’s Hospital to avoid requiring staff to disclose the chest-binding practices of students to parents.

A student counselor at Parkway Schools in St. Louis County reached out to the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, inquiring about the best way to approach chest-binding when it comes to students’ physical health and safety, according to emails obtained by Parents Defending Education (PDE) through a public records request, which were shared with Fox News Digital.

Chest-binding is the act of compressing or flattening one’s breasts in order to appear more masculine. If worn too tightly or for too long, it can cause restricted breathing, lightheadedness, overheating, fainting or damage to the ribs or spine.

An email from a Parkway Schools counselor on Jan. 20, 2022, asked experts at the Transgender Center, ‘I know our staff wouldn’t necessarily want to tell the parents but were curious if they HAD to if it becomes a health issue?… The only reason we’d want a nurse, PE, or Music teacher to know is because we had a few instances where a student passed out when wearing one that was too tight (when participating in PE activities or singing and out of breath… Just wanted to put that into context…)’

The response from a program manager at the Transgender Center quoted the center’s co-director, Dr. Sarah Garwood, as advising that Parkway, or any school district for that matter, not require staff to disclose students’ chest-binding practices to parents.  

‘I’m attaching a response from Dr. Garwood,’ the email from the program manager read. 

‘I would actually decline any requirements for disclosure by students or from school to parents,’ the email quoted Garwood as saying. ‘I would, however, provide general education to school nurses, teachers, school counselors so that they are aware this may be something they encounter.’

Garwood was quoted as saying that in ‘some circumstances,’ a ‘private conversation between PE teacher and student may be appropriate (Or between student and school counselor). The basic safety facts can also be shared with nurse, counselors, PE teachers (and music/band makes sense too).’

The email suggested that inquiring students be provided a handout on ‘Safer Binding’ by the Transgender Center, which states that binding ‘may help reduce dysphoria, ease body discomfort and help affirm one’s gender.’ The handout includes links to websites to buy binders, as well as a ‘binder sizing’ chart and ‘binder safety tips.’ 

Another email included in the results of PDE’s public records request included a link to a YouTube video of a back-to-school presentation by the Transgender Center, titled, ‘Working with Transgender Students,’ which was shown to Parkway Schools officials in August 2021.  

During the segment of the presentation on ‘privacy and disclosure,’ the program manager said: ‘There is a lot of ethical debate about this, because parents are the parents, they’re in charge. On the other hand, the kids are with all of you 6 to 8 hours a day. I believe that the best practice would be to respect that kid’s gender identity to the best that you can, without informing the parents, throughout the school day as much as you can. Working with the student, and being like, ‘OK, we can’t change your name on all the things because we have to tell your parents. So we can’t do that, but here’s where we can change your name.’’

Calls placed to the St. Louis Children’s Hospital, as directed on the hospital’s ‘media & newsroom’ webpage, were disconnected.

Garwood did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

‘It sounds too insane to be true, but we know this is happening across the country,’ Alex Nester, PDE investigative fellow, told Fox News Digital.

‘The parent-doctor relationship is absolutely crucial to children’s well-being, but activists are trying to poison it,’ Nester said. ‘Teachers across the country have already tried shutting parents out of the classroom, now they want to shut them out of medical decisions. This is both dangerous and unconscionable, and we must stop it before it goes any further.’ 

Parkway Schools told Fox News Digital that it does not currently have a policy on chest binding and parental disclosure, and that the ‘Safer Binding’ handout was only circulated among staff.

‘The District does not have a policy addressing chest binding and parental notification,’ district spokesman Paul Tandy said. ‘The ‘Safer Binding’ handout was distributed to high school counseling department leaders for informational purposes, but not for distribution to students.’

In response to a follow-up inquiry, Tandy said the school board does not have a policy related to students’ name changes or gender transitions either, but it does follow an internal process ‘that begins with a discussion with the parent or guardian, or, if the student is 18 years old, with the student.’

The number of migrant encounters at the besieged southern border exceeded 250,000 in December, marking the first time on record that encounters have reached that level, multiple sources tell Fox News.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources told Fox the numbers for southern border migrant encounters are above 250,000 for December, which would be even higher than 2022’s peak — which came in May when numbers hit 241,136. 

The number comes after two years of a historic crisis at the border that has overwhelmed officials and communities — as well as after nine straight months where migrant encounters hit over 200,000. For comparison, there were only 458,000 migrant encounters in the entirety of FY 2020. FY 2021 then saw more than 1.7 million and FY 2022 broke that record with a staggering 2.3 million encounters.

The sources also said that there were more than 70,000 gotaways at the border, similar to November where there were 73,000 who evaded Border Patrol but were picked up via other methods of surveillance. 

The December increase coincided with looming questions over Title 42, the public health order that allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the southern border, which is now before the Supreme Court. The order was scheduled to end on Dec. 21 and migrants were camped out on the Mexican side of the border ahead of the expected ending of the order. 

The order did not end as the Supreme Court put a hold on it until it can hear the case in full later this year, but officials had expected a massive surge in migrant numbers — with projections of up to 14,000 a day once the order ended. The Biden administration called for billions in funding for more resources and staffing at the border from Congress, while re-upping calls for a sweeping immigration reform bill that includes a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

The administration has said it is facing a crisis that is hemisphere-wide, not just limited to the U.S., and has blamed the Trump administration’s closing of legal asylum pathways along with ‘root causes’ like corruption and poverty in Central America. Biden earlier this month also pointed to a ‘broken’ immigration system.

‘But instead of safe and orderly process at the border, we have a patchwork system that simply doesn’t work as it should,’ he said, calling on Republicans in Congress to pass and fund his immigration bill first proposed in 2021.

But the political pressure has only been rising on the administration as Republicans, border officials and even some Democrats have taken aim at its handling of the crisis, with Democratic mayors in New York City and elsewhere demanding more help from the administration. 

President Biden last week visited the border in El Paso, meeting with election officials and taking a tour of the border wall. His administration also recently announced a number of measures they hope will decrease illegal migration — including an expanded parole pathway and an expansion of Title 42 expulsions to include some Nicaraguans, Cubans and Haitians — whose numbers have increased in recent months.

The administration also announced a rule that would make asylum seekers ineligible if they had transited through multiple countries but not claimed asylum there first — a measure that has drawn criticism from left-wing groups, including the U.N. for allegedly limiting a legal right to claim asylum in the U.S. no matter how they entered the country.

FIRST ON FOX: Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds slammed the city of San Francisco’s new reparations proposal giving longtime Black residents $5 million and wiping away their debt as ‘patently unfair.’

Donalds blasted the new proposal brought up by the coastal California city’s committee on reparations that would give the beneficiary residents a seven-figure payday and total debt forgiveness due to the decades of ‘systematic repression’ faced by the local Black community.

‘San Francisco’s reparations proposal is patently unfair and nothing but a distraction to cover for the incompetence of local Democratic leadership,’ Donalds told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

‘Rather than focusing on lowering the cost of living, a historic homelessness crisis, the opioid epidemic, or even the record levels of crime plaguing their city, San Francisco’s Democratic city leadership would rather divide their constituents further under a pretense of racial equity,’ Donalds continued.

Donalds’ comments come as San Francisco weighs the reparations committee’s hefty proposal.

The San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee, which advises the city on developing a plan for reparations for Black residents, released its draft report last month to address reparations – not for slavery, since California was not technically a slave state, but ‘to address the public policies explicitly created to subjugate Black people in San Francisco by upholding and expanding the intent and legacy of chattel slavery.’

‘While neither San Francisco, nor California, formally adopted the institution of chattel slavery, the tenets of segregation, white supremacy and systematic repression and exclusion of Black people were codified through legal and extralegal actions, social codes, and judicial enforcement,’ the draft states.

The draft plan includes a long list of financial recommendations for Black San Francisco residents, including a one-time, lump sum payment of $5 million to each eligible individual.

‘A lump sum payment would compensate the affected population for the decades of harms that they have experienced, and will redress the economic and opportunity losses that Black San Franciscans have endured, collectively, as the result of both intentional decisions and unintended harms perpetuated by City policy,’ the draft states.

To be eligible for the program, the applicant must be 18 years old and have identified as Black or African American on public documents for at least 10 years. They must also prove at least two of eight additional criteria, choosing from a list that includes, ‘Born in San Francisco between 1940 and 1996 and has proof of residency in San Francisco for at least 13 years,’ and/or, ‘Personally, or the direct descendant of someone, incarcerated by the failed War on Drugs.’

The plan also calls on the city to supplement lower-income recipients’ income to reflect the Area Median Income (AMI), about $97,000, annually for at least 250 years.

Meanwhile, President Biden attacked Republicans on Monday as being ‘fiscally demented.’

Donalds fired back at Biden during a Monday spot on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’ where the Florida congressman and member of the House Financial Services Committee said the president ‘sounds utterly ridiculous.’

‘Look, everybody knows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government spent more money than it ever had to try to keep our economy, and better yet, the lives of the American people, afloat,’ Donalds said.

‘Now that COVID is gone, we’re actually regressing in terms of spending. That’s a good thing,’ the Florida congressman continued. ‘For him to take credit for it makes no sense at all, because he is the one who has plussed-up spending across the board and actually fights for returning to spending levels pre-COVID-19, which is, frankly, where we should be going.

‘So for him to make a statement like that, is because what he wants to do is keep all of the items he has ratcheted up spending in, he wants to keep those in place,’ he added. ‘As opposed to doing the smart thing, the responsible thing, the fiscally-sound thing, which is examining spending at the federal level so we can get our debt under control, our inflation under control — which he caused by the way — and let the American people thrive and prosper.’

Fox News Digital’s Jessica Chasmar contributed reporting.

President Biden’s White House is accusing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of making ‘secret agreements’ to secure his position earlier this month.

White House senior communications adviser for strategic response Andrew Bates called on McCarthy to ‘come clean’ on Tuesday. McCarthy has denied making any non-public formal agreements in exchange for favorable votes from his Republican colleagues.

‘An unprecedented tax hike on the middle class and a national abortion ban are just a glimpse of the secret, backroom deals Speaker McCarthy made with extreme MAGA members to end this month’s chaotic elections and claim the gavel,’ Bates told Politico. ‘It is well past time for Speaker McCarthy and the ultra MAGA Republican House members to come out of the dark and tell the American people, in-full, what they decided in secret.’

‘What other hidden bargains did Speaker McCarthy make behind closed doors with the most extreme, ultra MAGA members of the House Republican conference?’ he continued. ‘The American people have a right to know – now – which is why we are calling on him to make every single one of them public immediately.’

McCarthy’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Biden’s demand for transparency from McCarthy comes as Republicans on Capitol Hill are ramping up scrutiny on Biden for his mishandling of classified documents. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel, Robert Hur, to investigate the matter last week.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., also demanded that Biden release the visitor logs for his Wilmington home, where White House lawyers found a stash of classified documents. The White House Counsel’s Office says no such record exists, however, and the U.S. Secret Service has also said the detail assigned to the house did not keep a record of visitors.

‘Like every President in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,’ White House lawyers told Fox News Digital on Monday. ‘But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.’

Biden’s accusation against McCarthy echoes language from far-left members of Congress like Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. Omar accused McCarthy of conceding to ‘far-right insurrectionists’ to secure his speakership.

‘McCarthy just agreed to a deal with far right insurrectionists that would hold the entire US and global economy hostage to extreme cuts to everything from housing to education, healthcare, Social Security and Medicare,’ the Minnesota Democrat tweeted hours before McCarthy was elected Speaker of the House in one of the longest voting cycles in American history.

‘Hard to overstate how dangerous this is,’ Omar added.

Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger – one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump on charges of ‘incitement of an insurrection’ in 2021 – is now selling signed copies of the final report from the now defunct January 6 select committee.

Listed on the website belonging to Country First, an Illinois-based political action committee established by Kinzinger in July 2021, the committee’s final report – signed by Kinzinger – is bound in book format and available for purchase for $100.

Hand selected by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Kinzinger, along with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, was one of only two Republicans who served on the committee to investigate the events of January 6 at the Capitol.

The listing for a signed copy of the report, described by Country First as ‘perhaps the most vital congressional investigation in American history,’ includes exhibits and witness testimony.

‘On January 6, 2021, the United States came perilously close to losing its democracy. A mob instigated by the president of the United States violently attacked the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., seeking to disrupt the certification of the electors in the presidential election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history,’ the listing states. ‘The attack was the culmination of a plot organized and driven by a defeated president, attempting to remain in power through a complex web of deceit, intimidation, and violence.’

Kinzinger, whose tenure as one of the most outspoken anti-Trump lawmakers on Capitol Hill expired earlier this month, announced he would not seek re-election in October 2021.

‘I want to make it clear, this isn’t the end of my political future but the beginning,’ Kinzinger said at the time. ‘Let me be clear, my passion for this country has only grown. My desire to make a difference is bigger than it’s ever been.’

Since leaving office, Kinzinger joined CNN as a senior political commentator, making his debut on the network this month during an appearance on ‘Erin Burnett Outfront.’

Other merchandise available for purchase on the PAC’s website includes baseballs signed by Kinzinger, which cost $50 each.

‘Our Sacred Sandlot is being threatened,’ the listing reads. ‘That’s why we’re putting together teams of reasonable people and common-sense solutions. Become part of the solution and donate today to get an official Country First limited-edition American Sandlot baseball signed by Adam Kinzinger!’

WASHINGTON – President Biden’s handling of classified documents is concerning and should be investigated in the same manner as former President Trump’s case, Washington, D.C. residents told Fox News.

‘I am very concerned,’ Sue said.

Chris told Fox News: ‘I do definitely think that is of concern and should be looked further into.’

WATCH THESE AMERICANS WEIGH IN ON BIDEN’S HANDLING OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS:

The president’s personal attorneys found records, including classified documents, from the Obama administration in Biden’s old office at the Penn Biden Center in November — details the White House kept secret until news organizations reported the finding. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter after additional classified documents were found at Biden’s Wilmington home.

One D.C. resident, Artis, speculated that the documents were ‘planted,’ though there’s no evidence to support his theory.

‘I don’t think he could have been naive to have that in his office,’ he said. 

Residents of the nation’s capital also brought up concerns about the contents of the classified documents and how they were discovered.

‘The only concerns I have is if the documents is going to jeopardize the United States’ citizens and our health and well-being,’ Christine said. ‘That’s when it becomes a problem.’

Others drew comparisons between how Biden and Trump handled classified documents. The FBI raided the former president’s home at Mar-a-Lago and found classified material after a prolonged battle regarding White House records. A special counsel was appointed to investigate the matter.

‘If you let Trump go, let Biden go,’ Emily, a D.C. resident, said. ‘But something should be done, really, about both of them.’

 Another resident, Charles, told Fox News: ‘Shoot, Trump got in trouble for it … we should know what’s going on.’

Gary, who voted for Biden, said the discovery of these classified documents has been blown out of proportion, ‘but I don’t like the way this is going down.’

‘I think he’s still irresponsible because he should have caught up on that,’ Gary said. ‘Even after Trump got caught, I would go back and say, ‘hey make sure everything I have is clear.”

To watch D.C. residents’ full interviews about Biden’s handling of classified documents, click here.

Former President Donald Trump is questioning the ‘loyalty’ of his past allies in the evangelical community.

Trump, appearing on the Real America’s Voice program ‘The Water Cooler,’ was asked his thoughts on evangelical leaders’ hesitance to once again throw their support behind the former president.

‘I don’t really care. It’s a sign of disloyalty,’ Trump replied. 

‘There’s great disloyalty in the world of politics, and that’s a sign of disloyalty because nobody … has ever done more for ‘right to life’ than Donald Trump.’

Trump touted his presidency’s role in shaping the judicial climate that allowed for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

‘I put three Supreme Court justices who all voted, and they got something they’ve been fighting for 64 years or many, many years,’ Trump said. ‘And nobody thought they could win it. They won — Roe v. Wade — they won.They finally won.’

The former president also took the opportunity to take jabs at those in the pro-life movement and the evangelical community who have hesitated to back his 2024 presidential bid.

Trump accused the groups of failing to ‘do what they could have done’ in the 2022 midterm elections, when the Republican Party was hopeful to reclaim both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

However, the GOP walked away from 2022 somewhat disappointed, only managing to win a thin majority in the House.

‘And I was a little disappointed because I thought they could have fought much harder during the election, during the 2022 election,’ Trump said. ‘Because, you know, they won, and a lot of them didn’t fight or weren’t really around to fight. And it did energize the Democrats. But a lot of the people who wanted and fought for years to get it … they weren’t there protesting and doing what they could have done. 

‘But with all of that being said, there’s nobody who has done more for the movement than I have, and that includes the movement of evangelicals and Christians and the movement very much of ‘right to life.’’

Former President Trump said in an interview this week that he’s prepared to ‘handle’ a potential challenge from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. 

Trump, who declared his candidacy for the White House in November, remains the front-runner for the GOP nomination and still enjoys strong support from Republican voters. But recent polls have shown DeSantis leading a hypothetical 2024 presidential primary, and major GOP donors have floated the Florida governor as an alternative candidate, one who at 44 would be a younger, fresher face and who carries no baggage from the contested 2020 presidential election. 

Speaking on ‘The Water Pooler’ podcast with host David Brody, Trump took credit for DeSantis’ rising political fortunes, noting that his endorsement in 2018 catapulted DeSantis to the front of the pack in the Republican gubernatorial primary. 

‘I got him elected, pure and simple,’ Trump said, boasting that his rallies for DeSantis helped get out the vote in what turned out to be a narrow victory over Democrat Andrew Gillum.

‘So, now I hear he might want to run against me, so we’ll handle that the way I handle things,’ Trump said. 

So far, Trump has handled DeSantis by launching unprovoked attacks, labeling him ‘Ron DeSanctimonious,’ and accusing the governor of disloyalty because he refuses to say he won’t run for president against Trump. 

In November, after DeSantis won re-election in a 19-point landslide while many other GOP candidates struggled, Trump slammed him as an ‘average REPUBLICAN Governor with great Public Relations,’ and said DeSantis came to him in ‘desperate shape’ in 2017 asking for his endorsement to win the gubernatorial primary.  

DeSantis has not responded to Trump directly, nor has he given any public indication that he intends to run for president. 

‘One of the things I’ve learned in this job is when you’re leading, when you’re getting things done, you take incoming fire. That’s just the nature of it,’ DeSantis told reporters in November, answering a question about Trump’s attacks. ‘I roll out of bed in the morning and I have corporate media outlets that have a spasm just because I’m getting up in the morning, and it’s just constantly attacking.’

‘I think what you learn is all of that is just noise, and really what matters is are you leading, are you getting in front of issues, are you delivering results for people, and are you standing up for folks,’ he added. ‘At the end of the day I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night.’

But many political observers and commentators thought that the governor’s second inaugural address on Jan. 3, during which DeSantis called Florida the ‘promised land of sanity’ and the place where ‘woke goes to die,’ sounded like a presidential campaign speech. 

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Joe Silverstein contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: Pipeline workers who had secured jobs on the Keystone XL project before President Biden revoked its federal permits said they are still struggling to recover two years later.

The workers told Fox News Digital that they and their fellow workers lost their jobs on the pipeline after Biden’s decision nearly two years ago in January 2021 and have since struggled to make ends meet. Immediately after taking office, Biden signed an executive order effectively shutting the project down despite the thousands of jobs it was expected to create and arguing the U.S. ‘must prioritize the development of a clean energy economy.’

‘I was going to be on the Keystone XL project, but none of those jobs went. It got canceled, so I didn’t see any of that work,’ Suzanne Walker, a pipeline welder who was hired to work the pipeline in North Dakota until Biden canceled its permits, told Fox News Digital. ‘That was a job down the drain and there really hasn’t been much since.’

‘I know a lot of members went and have done different things now because the pipeline business — it’s just gone basically,’ she continued. ‘I know there are a few jobs out there, but we’re trying to make it at home. I know a lot of people who fell on hard times.’

Overall, the pipeline would have created between 16,149 and 59,468 construction jobs that would have lasted roughly two years and would have had a positive economic impact of between $3.4-9.6 billion, according to a congressionally-mandated report issued by the Department of Energy in December. 

And the project’s labor agreement signed in August 2020 promised the pipeline would create 42,000 American jobs and provide $2 billion in total wages.

‘It did surprise us when it happened,’ Neal Crabtree, who worked on the pipeline in Nebraska as a foreman, told Fox News Digital in an interview. ‘I was upset over it. I literally cried about it. I was a foreman on one of the compressor stations. We’d been there for three weeks.’

‘We were excited to start this project. You know, we have to work to keep our insurance hours going, we have to work to build our retirement,’ he added. ‘And when you just spent a whole year [during the COVID-19 pandemic] not working and then we think we got this huge project that’s going to provide millions of man-hours for people in our industry and then the rug is pulled out from under you, it was devastating.’

‘It was numbing, I can tell you that,’ Crabtree said.

Crabtree said he and many of his fellow Keystone XL workers had heard Biden’s campaign promise to shut the pipeline, but didn’t think he would follow through given the billions of dollars that had been invested in it. 

The project had been slated to be completed early this year and transport an additional 830,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada to the U.S. through an existing pipeline network, according to its operator TC Energy. Lawmakers and energy industry representatives have argued the pipeline would have helped keep gas prices down and bolster U.S. energy security by increasing crude oil supplies being fed to Texas refineries. 

Advocates of the project had also pointed to the number of jobs it would have created.

‘I know it impacts families firsthand because my husband is also a pipeline worker and we had to go from, you know, work in making good money to now trying to make it,’ Walker added. ‘From 2020 to now, we had saved some money, but with kids, money don’t last forever.’

‘For the bills you have, it don’t add up to what you’re making. It definitely impacts people a lot.’

Walker and Crabtree also took aim at the Biden administration’s arguments that their jobs would be replaced with green energy jobs and that the Keystone XL job losses meant less since they were temporary. 

Following its Keystone XL jobs report last month, for example, the DOE told Fox News Digital it concluded the pipeline cancelation had ‘limited job impacts, with approximately 50 permanent jobs estimated to have been created were the pipeline operational.’

‘That one pipeline, it was our project for that year,’ Crabtree said. ‘You’re talking about a 10 or 11-month project. People saying that, ‘well, it’s just temporary’ — every construction job is temporary. When you’re in this industry, you know, just like a carpenter — he doesn’t spend his entire career building the same house.He finishes that house and then hopefully there’s another house for him to go build.’

‘That Keystone pipeline was our house to build in 2020 and we didn’t get to do it,’ he told Fox News Digital. ‘And it is putting a severe hurting on this industry. When it happened, my main concern wasn’t just the Keystone pipeline. Myself and a lot of other people were afraid of the domino effect.’

He also said he would be unable to transition to working on green energy projects such as solar panel installations, saying he was trained in pipeline work.

‘What aggravates me the most is the government, when it comes to construction workers, they just kind of lump us into one big group like we’ve had no specific training,’ Crabtree continued. ‘They think just because we didn’t go to college and because we work construction, we can go do any other type of construction project.’

‘I’m a professional pipeline welder. That’s what I do,’ he said. ‘I spent countless years perfecting my skill. For them to tell me that I can just go out and build solar panels to me that something is more suited for an electrician. I know nothing about being an electrician.’

Walker echoed Crabtree, saying she hadn’t heard from anybody offering green energy jobs.

‘I haven’t seen anybody call me about a solar job,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I can just go from a pipeline welder to the wind farm or the solar world and make a living.’

TC Energy ultimately gave up on the Kesytone XL project in June 2021 as a result of Biden’s decision canceling its permits. And last year, a federal judge tossed a legal challenge from nearly two dozen states asking the court to reinstate the pipeline’s permits.