Foxconn bill passes through Assembly committee
Will Foxconn get $3 Billion in incentives?
A bill proposing that is quickly moving through special session. Monday afternoon it was heard and voted through committee. Every single vote passed and failed along party lines.
"The chairman believes the substitute is amendment is a great piece of legislation and following the amendments are unnessecary," said Rep. Adam Neylon, committee chair and (R) - Pewaukee.
Republicans submitted their amendments for the Foxconn bill on Friday. On Monday, Democrats offered up 23 more amendments.
Every single one failed to pass the Committee on Jobs and the Economy, but the full bill with Friday's substitute amendments will move on
"Refusing to entertain a single amendment here today leads me to believe there may not really be any interest in this being a bispartisan vote. Far too many questions have been raised about whether or not this project is good for taxpayers, a good deal for Wisconsin workers and contractors, and safe for our environment for me to vote yes today," said Rep. Tod Ohnstad, (D) Kenosha.
Milwaukee representative, Christine Sinicki worries about Foxconn's track record. She and other democrats supported taking away tax incentives if the company doesn't abide by some specific requirements such as paying a wage of at least 20 dollars per hour, or requiring health insurance for workers and their families.
"I just want to share, I don't want to go through it all, just some of the headlines from around the country on this deal. We are the laughing stock of the country once again. Here we got, 'State Leaders not Competent to Handle an International Deal, Foxconn scale." This is from the Washington Post: 'How Foxconn's Broken Pledges in Pennsylvania Cast Doubt on Trump's Jobs Plan.' This one concerns me. You know why? They made the same promises in Harrisburg. It never materialized," said Rep. Sinicki.
Republicans agreed their original amendment includes some of the solutions democrats made. Some representatives said the market will dictate wages. Others compared Foxconn's investment to the Green Bay Packers.
"I heard an analogy and I think it's a little bit good since I'm a packer fan," said Rep. Patrick Snyder, (R) Schofield. "When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s... they were a team, 'Who wants to go to Green Bay?'"
"And then the Packer organization, led by Ron Wolf, decided to make the decision to invest millions of dollars into Reggie White -- millions. Now this was no stipulation where he had to produce 13,000 tackles or have so many sacks if he didn't we were gonna not pay him as much. This was multi millions, but it changed the culture and the idea of this state. It changed it to the point where this now was a place where other top veterans considered going because Reggie White did. This Foxconn, I believe, will have the same results," continued Snyder.
The bill the goes to the full assembly floor for a vote on Thursday.