Empower Wisconsin | Jan. 31, 2022
MADISON — U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Janesville) says Wisconsin may well have missed out on the economically transformative Intel Corp. deal because of the state’s “anti-business” governor.
The Tech titan recently announced it had chosen Ohio as the future home of its $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing complex —an economic boon for the Buckeye State that Intel promises will bring thousands of high-paying jobs. Racine County’s Village of Mount Pleasant, site of Foxconn’s growing tech plant, reportedly finished second in the Intel chase.
Sources last week told Empower Wisconsin that Intel was impressed with what Mount Pleasant had to offer, but underwhelmed by Gov. Tony Evers and his economic development team. The tax-and-spend liberal has built a reputation as adversarial to business, as evidenced by one of Evers’ first symbolic actions: taking down his predecessor’s state line signs declaring Wisconsin is “Open for Business.”
“I think what we see now is a governor putting forward anti-business policies,” Steil, who represents Racine and Kenosha counties as part of the 1st Congressional District, told Empower Wisconsin’s M.D. Kittle on Friday’s Jay Weber Show. “He’s not pro-growth. He’s not pro-job. He’s not pro-worker. And at the core, these businesses know that.”
Steil added that, until Wisconsin changes governors, the state will continue finding itself “on the short end of the stick” in economic development.
The congressman also discussed a letter he sent the Biden administration seeking answers about the alarming shortage of monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19, and why federal health officials were not prepared.
Rep. Bryan Steil is our guest today on this edition of PowerUp, Empower Wisconsin’s podcast.
