Contact: Joshua Miller | Joshua.Miller@legis.wisconsin.gov | (608) 237-9147
Fitchburg – Today, President Trump and Governor Walker will attend the ground-breaking ceremony for Foxconn’s Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park. Representative Jimmy Anderson released the following statement regarding the President’s visit and the official onset of this multi-billion dollar debacle.
“After months of secret deals being made behind closed doors, Foxconn is beginning construction on this massively irresponsible project. Since the deal’s inception, the price tag to taxpayers has ballooned from $3 billion to a staggering $4.5 billion, unmatched in Wisconsin history. The company is also planning to extract millions of gallons of water every day from Lake Michigan and was given permission to ignore environmental regulations that all other Wisconsin businesses must abide by. What’s most distressing is that even under Governor Walker’s best case scenario, the earliest Wisconsin could possibly break even on the Foxconn project is 2043. Given that we are still waiting for the 250,000 jobs Governor Walker promised over eight years ago, I have no confidence in the Governor’s assurances.
“Sadly, Governor Walker isn’t the only one causing significant pain to Wisconsin’s economic future. President Trump, with his wildly unpopular trade war, is doing real damage to many important Wisconsin businesses. For instance, the Wisconsin dairy industry is talking about having to pour milk down the drain if the President’s economic belligerence causes export markets to dry up. And just this week, Harley-Davidson announced that it would be moving manufacturing overseas in response to the European Union’s retaliatory tariffs against the President.
“I can hardly think of businesses that are more Wisconsin than our dairy farms and the century-old, Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson, so it hurts to see President Trump causing irreparable damage to these industries while Governor Walker does nothing. Though, I can’t say I’m surprised. Governor Walker’s specialty seems to be sitting idly by while President Trump does monstrous things.”
