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Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats on Wednesday to stop President Donald Trump’s energy emergency executive order.
The vote ended 52-47 along party lines, with North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Kramer absent due to a recent injury.
“Tim Kaine wants to impoverish Americans. President Donald Trump’s executive order brings America into the future and unleashes prosperity. Senator [Tim] Kaine wants to cost the economy trillions and risk losing nearly a million jobs,” deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News on Wednesday.
The effort to block the energy order was introduced by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Martin Heinrich.
“While Donald Trump focuses on repaying the corporate polluter executives who donated to his campaign, it is the American people who will pay the price of his sham ‘energy emergency,’” Heinrich argued in a statement ahead of the vote.
“His autocratic and unlawful attacks on clean energy investments will kill American jobs, raise costs on families, weaken our economic competitiveness, and erode American global energy dominance. Trump should end his destructive crusade on clean energy and start putting the interests of working people first,” she continued.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) spoke out against the Democratic effort ahead of the vote.
“Senate Republicans won’t let Democrats delay and obstruct any longer and will ensure the President has the tools necessary to deliver the results the American people expect,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) also spoke out against the effort to block the president’s energy efforts.
“And so I do understand why Democrats would prefer not to acknowledge our national energy emergency. But acknowledge it or not, it’s there,” Thune said.
“And if we don’t take action, we’re going to be facing some very serious problems in the very near future. So I’m grateful to have a president who recognizes and acknowledges the energy emergency facing our nation,” Thune said. “And I look forward to working with him to unleash American energy production and achieve a secure, affordable, and reliable energy future for the American people.”