Republican U.S. Senator from Wisconsin Ron Johnson claimed that his state has "enough jobs" and that he was okay with Oshkosh Defense sending 1000 new jobs to a facility in South Carolina to fulfill a contract for 165,000 "next generation" postal delivery vehicles — rather than keeping those jobs in the Oshkosh area.
John Bryant, president of Oshkosh Defense and executive vice president at Oshkosh Corporation, said that the company had worked with multiple local organizations to "explore opportunities to manufacture these vehicles in Wisconsin."
"Unfortunately, we could not identify an existing building that was viable for this project."
Instead, the company will repurpose a warehouse in Spartanburg, South Carolina for the large-scale manufacturing project, with production set to begin in 2023.
Johnson's Democratic colleague, Senator Tammy Baldwin, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
"To me, it's simple — I want Oshkosh Defense to manufacture trucks in Oshkosh with Wisconsin workers."
Johnson, on the other hand, was evidently perfectly content to let those jobs go to another state.
"It's not like we don't have enough jobs here in Wisconsin.".
"The biggest problem we have in Wisconsin right now is employers not being able to find enough workers."
He continued:
"If it's more efficient, more effective, to spend those [federal dollars] in another state, I don't have a real problem with that."
Johnson has blamed pandemic aid programs or, as he calls them, "programs that are paying people and allowing them to stay on the sidelines," for keeping people out of the workforce — seemingly ignoring the reality of Wisconsin's abysmally low $7.25 minimum wage.
Twitter wasted no time slamming Johnson for his failure to advocate for his own state.
The only fallout I care about is his removal from the Senate so we can have someone competent and empathetic to represent us in WI— Terraformer (@Terraformer) 1644340524
Ron Johnson should be fighting for high paying jobs in this state. I can't believe people vote for you. Oshkosh is one of the lowest paying major cities in the state. We could use these jobs. My God you are from here. SICKENING.— BU (@BU) 1644336890
A fight to the bottom for the worse Senator. Ron Johnson takes the lead today. To many jobs in his state? Remember on Election Day.— raymond holland (@raymond holland) 1644252166
If this guy doesn\u2019t lose his seat I\u2019m giving up on humanity.— Sleuthy Kyle *Build Back Better* (@Sleuthy Kyle *Build Back Better*) 1644251041
My thoughts, one of the jobs of a United States Senator is to advocate for the citizens of your state. @senator Ron Johnson does not believe this. Wisconsin always needs new jobs— Michael Bowman (@Michael Bowman) 1644336447
It's clear who he really represents.
We know which constituent he is working for, if you needed any more proof, here it is (hint: it's not the workers who would benefit from the jobs... it's the corporate donor who wants to choose the cheapest location to produce the truck.)— DareMightyThings! (@DareMightyThings!) 1644262411
Let's wait until he says Wisconsin is suffering for jobs because of President Biden. Or has he already? I'd bet he has.— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udf0a Debbie in Wisconsin \ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udf0a Debbie in Wisconsin \ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1644264522
While Senator Johnson seems to think that his state has plenty of jobs, it would seem that his constituents beg to differ. More stable and high-paying jobs are always a good thing for a state.
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