SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) speaks during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on February 10, 2021. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
'Time for Him to Go': Ron Johnson Says He Won't Fight for Wisconsin Jobs
"Don't electeds usually try to get more jobs for their constituents? Not if your name is Ron Johnson," quipped Wisconsin progressive Randy Bryce.
Feb 07, 2022
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson faced a torrent of backlash over the weekend for publicly admitting that he won't pressure a Wisconsin manufacturer to locate around 1,000 new jobs in his home state rather than in South Carolina, which has some of the most anti-union labor laws in the nation.
"Johnson just said he wouldn't lift a finger to make sure the new USPS truck is built here in Wisconsin."
"It's not like we don't have enough jobs here in Wisconsin," Johnson said Saturday, a line that's almost certain to become Democratic Party ad material as the two-term Republican senator campaigns for reelection in the crucial battleground state.
"I wouldn't insert myself to demand that anything be manufactured here using federal funds in Wisconsin," Johnson told reporters when asked about the U.S. Postal Service's 10-year contract with Oshkosh Defense, the Wisconsin-based company that USPS tapped to produce its "Next Generation Delivery Vehicle."
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, one of several Democrats running for Johnson's seat, called the Republican senator's remarks "outrageous" and argued it is "time for him to go."
"This is absurd," Barnes wrote in a Twitter post on Sunday. "Ron Johnson just said he wouldn't lift a finger to make sure the new USPS truck is built here in Wisconsin. In Oshkosh, where he's from!"
Watch Johnson's comments:
On top of environmentalists' warnings about the climate impact of the USPS contract--which is for the production of a fleet of largely gasoline-powered vehicles--labor advocates and Wisconsinites have voiced outrage over Oshkosh Defense's plan to manufacture the postal delivery trucks with non-union labor in South Carolina.
Oshkosh Defense employees represented by the United Auto Workers are pressuring the company to reverse its decision, but Johnson indicated Saturday that he views South Carolina's anti-union laws as a positive.
"In the end, I think when using federal tax dollars, you want to spend those in the most efficient way and if it's more efficient, more effective to spend those in other states, I don't have a real problem with that," said the senator.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) tweeted in response to Johnson that "it's my job to support job creation in Wisconsin and I want the trucks built here."
"To me, it's simple--I want Oshkosh Defense to manufacture trucks in Oshkosh with Wisconsin workers," Baldwin wrote.
Randy Bryce, a former U.S. House candidate in Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District, also weighed in, asking, "Don't electeds usually try to get more jobs for their constituents?"
"Not if your name is Ron Johnson," Bryce added.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson faced a torrent of backlash over the weekend for publicly admitting that he won't pressure a Wisconsin manufacturer to locate around 1,000 new jobs in his home state rather than in South Carolina, which has some of the most anti-union labor laws in the nation.
"Johnson just said he wouldn't lift a finger to make sure the new USPS truck is built here in Wisconsin."
"It's not like we don't have enough jobs here in Wisconsin," Johnson said Saturday, a line that's almost certain to become Democratic Party ad material as the two-term Republican senator campaigns for reelection in the crucial battleground state.
"I wouldn't insert myself to demand that anything be manufactured here using federal funds in Wisconsin," Johnson told reporters when asked about the U.S. Postal Service's 10-year contract with Oshkosh Defense, the Wisconsin-based company that USPS tapped to produce its "Next Generation Delivery Vehicle."
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, one of several Democrats running for Johnson's seat, called the Republican senator's remarks "outrageous" and argued it is "time for him to go."
"This is absurd," Barnes wrote in a Twitter post on Sunday. "Ron Johnson just said he wouldn't lift a finger to make sure the new USPS truck is built here in Wisconsin. In Oshkosh, where he's from!"
Watch Johnson's comments:
On top of environmentalists' warnings about the climate impact of the USPS contract--which is for the production of a fleet of largely gasoline-powered vehicles--labor advocates and Wisconsinites have voiced outrage over Oshkosh Defense's plan to manufacture the postal delivery trucks with non-union labor in South Carolina.
Oshkosh Defense employees represented by the United Auto Workers are pressuring the company to reverse its decision, but Johnson indicated Saturday that he views South Carolina's anti-union laws as a positive.
"In the end, I think when using federal tax dollars, you want to spend those in the most efficient way and if it's more efficient, more effective to spend those in other states, I don't have a real problem with that," said the senator.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) tweeted in response to Johnson that "it's my job to support job creation in Wisconsin and I want the trucks built here."
"To me, it's simple--I want Oshkosh Defense to manufacture trucks in Oshkosh with Wisconsin workers," Baldwin wrote.
Randy Bryce, a former U.S. House candidate in Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District, also weighed in, asking, "Don't electeds usually try to get more jobs for their constituents?"
"Not if your name is Ron Johnson," Bryce added.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson faced a torrent of backlash over the weekend for publicly admitting that he won't pressure a Wisconsin manufacturer to locate around 1,000 new jobs in his home state rather than in South Carolina, which has some of the most anti-union labor laws in the nation.
"Johnson just said he wouldn't lift a finger to make sure the new USPS truck is built here in Wisconsin."
"It's not like we don't have enough jobs here in Wisconsin," Johnson said Saturday, a line that's almost certain to become Democratic Party ad material as the two-term Republican senator campaigns for reelection in the crucial battleground state.
"I wouldn't insert myself to demand that anything be manufactured here using federal funds in Wisconsin," Johnson told reporters when asked about the U.S. Postal Service's 10-year contract with Oshkosh Defense, the Wisconsin-based company that USPS tapped to produce its "Next Generation Delivery Vehicle."
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, one of several Democrats running for Johnson's seat, called the Republican senator's remarks "outrageous" and argued it is "time for him to go."
"This is absurd," Barnes wrote in a Twitter post on Sunday. "Ron Johnson just said he wouldn't lift a finger to make sure the new USPS truck is built here in Wisconsin. In Oshkosh, where he's from!"
Watch Johnson's comments:
On top of environmentalists' warnings about the climate impact of the USPS contract--which is for the production of a fleet of largely gasoline-powered vehicles--labor advocates and Wisconsinites have voiced outrage over Oshkosh Defense's plan to manufacture the postal delivery trucks with non-union labor in South Carolina.
Oshkosh Defense employees represented by the United Auto Workers are pressuring the company to reverse its decision, but Johnson indicated Saturday that he views South Carolina's anti-union laws as a positive.
"In the end, I think when using federal tax dollars, you want to spend those in the most efficient way and if it's more efficient, more effective to spend those in other states, I don't have a real problem with that," said the senator.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) tweeted in response to Johnson that "it's my job to support job creation in Wisconsin and I want the trucks built here."
"To me, it's simple--I want Oshkosh Defense to manufacture trucks in Oshkosh with Wisconsin workers," Baldwin wrote.
Randy Bryce, a former U.S. House candidate in Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District, also weighed in, asking, "Don't electeds usually try to get more jobs for their constituents?"
"Not if your name is Ron Johnson," Bryce added.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.