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In his address to Congress last night, President Donald Trump called for increasing mining, building a methane pipeline across Alaska, and defended Elon Musk’s firing of thousands of civil servants. He also bragged about renaming Alaska's highest peak, Denali, Mt. McKinley, despite opposition from the state's lawmakers.
Trump touted his "national energy emergency" declaration and "drill, baby, drill" agenda, saying he has authorized "the most talented team" to "go and get" the country's reserves of "liquid gold." He also bragged about the potential construction of a liquified national gas pipeline in Alaska, despite the project's $44 billion price tag. Finally, he said he will take action "later this week" to "dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the U.S.A."
Trump also bragged about creating the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is led by Musk and recently laid off thousands of federal workers, including many National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service rangers. "President Trump can’t balance the budget by firing the park rangers, veterans, scientists, and foresters who maintain our public lands," Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala said in a statement.
Some Western lawmakers, including Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado, did not attend the speech in protest of Trump's policies, while others, including Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado and Representative Janelle Bynum of Oregon, brought recently-fired Forest Service rangers as guests.
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Members of Congress are cowering at home in their districts, afraid to face the constituents who are the victims of Elon Musk’s rampage, as a government shutdown looms in ten days. That’s the state of the union today, just six weeks into Donald Trump’s second term.”
