CHICAGO – President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday officially announced his selection of Exxon-Mobile CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State and former Texas Governor and current Energy Transfer Partners board member Rick Perry for Energy Secretary. In response to these nominations, George Goehl, the co-director of People’s Action, a national progressive grassroots advocacy organization, issued the following statement:

“President-elect Donald Trump has put Wall Street executives and billionaires in charge of the federal government. Today, he added Big Oil CEOs to his corporate-controlled toxic stew.   

President-Elect Trump promised to drain the swamp, but he has just proposed to fill it with two more corporate alligators who will exploit taxpayers to make more money for the billionaire class at the expense of the rest of us.  Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, and former Texas Governor Rick Perry, don’t care about the interests of everyday people, including the people who voted for Donald Trump.

Trump’s nominees will spark waves of buyer’s remorse throughout the Midwest and Rust Belt. One month into his transition, an increasing number of his supporters see he is a fake economic populist – and a very real con man.  

With the well-documented warming of the planet reaching dangerous levels, these are precisely the wrong people to place in these positions of public trust and global power. We will do everything in our power to make sure they are not confirmed to the new administration.”

People’s Action has a history of working with everyday people to win climate justice and protect the planet. We’ve collaborated with the Native Organizers Alliance in recent months to halt Energy Transfer Partners’ construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. We’ve also worked with our state affiliates to advance the Clean Power Plan and ensure equity for low-income communities and communities of color. Since Donald Trump’s election, we’ve held actions around the country to resist his plan to reverse the movement toward sustainable energy, equity and climate justice.

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People’s Action is a national organization of more than a million people across 30 states working for economic, racial, gender and climate justice – and to ensure everyone a voice in our political system. From family farms to big cities, from coast to coast, we’re fighting for community over greed, justice over racism, and people and planet over big corporations.