Tuesday, June 29, 2010
10:18 AM
Sensenbrenner, Ryan rip decision affecting Bucyrus
Republican U.S. Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner and Paul Ryan have joined the chorus of Wisconsin officials criticizing the U.S. Export-Import Bank after the bank refused to finance an Indian power plant that could have generated $600 million in equipment sales for South Milwaukee-based Bucyrus International.
“With the national unemployment rate continuing to hover close to 10 percent, all steps should be taken to reinvigorate the economy and bring jobs to the United States,” the congressmen wrote in a letter to Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg. “However, with this decision, you are simply exporting American jobs to China.”
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett wrote to Hochberg urging the bank to reconsider its decision Monday, and said he would discuss the issue with President Obama during his visit to Racine Wednesday.
“There’s no clearer demonstration of how this administration’s environmental activism will cost U.S. jobs than this ruling by the Export-Import Bank,” charged Sensenbrenner, of Menomonee Falls, in a statement. Ryan, R-Janesville, added that "(t)he vibrancy and competitiveness of the American economy should never take a back seat to political ideology."
U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton, issued a letter to Hochberg Monday noting that the bank's decision would not impede the progress of the Indian plant.
"(I)t would be tragic to miss this opportunity for bolstering employment," Feingold wrote.
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