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Foxconn delays
Foxconn delays
Foxconn
MADISON — The Wisconsin Senate's top Republican wants to know when the jobs Foxconn has promised to create in the state will materialize, as his chamber ponders an incentives package for the company.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald implied that he's getting pressure to pass the bill first and read it later. He wants to move a lot slower than fellow Republicans in the Assembly, and that got a mixed review Thursday, August 10th near one of the sites Foxconn is considering.
Just like rebuilding a car, passing legislation is a process.
"I don't really get into politics. I'm not too political," said Al Mueller.
What Mueller does know, he said, is that he wants Foxconn to build its proposed $10 billion plant down the road from the Sturtevant shop where he works.
Al Mueller
"You're going to have all these construction workers here, and they have trucks and trucks break," Mueller said.
Signs of progress continued Thursday. A crew hired by the village was digging soil where landowners have signed options to sell to Foxconn. But the $3 billion incentives bill needed to bring the company to Wisconsin, isn't moving.
"It seemed like it kind of stalled out in Madison," said Jeff Banks, lives in Sturtevant.
Assembly Republicans have twice delayed a committee vote on the bill. In the Senate, Fitzgerald is getting beaten up on conservative talk radio as he defends wanting to move slowly on the Foxconn deal.
"There's no timeline necessarily for job creation, and that's got a lot of people nervous," said Fitzgerald.
Near the Racine County site that Foxconn is considering, some said they're OK with waiting.
"Oh, I don't think there's any problem with them talking about it and getting people's opinions from all over the state," said Jeff Banks, lives in Sturtevant.
But some said they want lawmakers to hurry up and closed the deal.
"I would tell them look at the big picture. It's not just those 13,000 jobs -- it's everybody else," said Mueller.
Fitzgerald said he does think the incentives bill will pass. In what form is the question. The Assembly seems poised to change the bill. The Senate hasn't even started working on it yet.
There is a September 30th deadline to pass the bill, but Fitzgerald questions why that even exists.