Foxconn news never ends: Trump says $30 billion, as Wisconsin rushes deal

Wisconsin Republican senators have lots of unanswered
questions about plant’s $3 billion incentive plan. 

MADISON, Wis. — The Latest on Gov. Scott Walker and state legislators’ work to bring a Foxconn plant to southeastern Wisconsin (all times local):

3:45 p.m.

President Donald Trump says electronics manufacturer Foxconn may end up making a $30 billion investment, triple what it’s agreed to do in Wisconsin.

Trump made the comment Tuesday during a meeting with small business leaders at the White House.

Trump says Foxconn CEO Terry Gou told him “off the record” that the Taiwanese company may end up investing $30 billion. He did not specify if that would be only in Wisconsin or throughout the country.

Foxconn did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Gou and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed an agreement Thursday for the company to invest $10 billion in the state and hire up to 13,000 people in return for $3 billion in tax breaks.

3:15 p.m.

The leader of the Wisconsin state Senate says Republican senators have a lot of unanswered questions about a $3 billion deal to land a Foxconn electronics manufacturing plant in the state.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Tuesday that senators want more information before proceeding with the bill backed by Gov. Scott Walker to close the deal. Foxconn signed an agreement last week to invest $10 billion in the state on a plant that could employ 13,000 people.

Fitzgerald’s approach differs from fellow Republicans in control of the state Assembly, who are moving quickly on the measure. A public hearing on the bill is set for Thursday, with a vote by the full Assembly expected in a couple weeks.

2:25 p.m.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he does not think there will be “major changes” to a $3 billion incentive bill the Legislature is considering as part of a deal to land a Foxconn electronics plant.

Walker spoke with reporters Tuesday after he briefed Republican state senators privately about the deal. He met separately with Assembly Republicans earlier.

The Republican Walker says there is a “potential for a few tweaks here and there but I don’t think there will be major changes.”

Walker is also defending the Legislature’s aggressive timeline for voting on the bill. A public hearing in the Assembly is scheduled for Thursday, just six days after the $3 billion incentive package proposal was released.

Walker says, “There’s plenty of time to have public hearings, to have the public engaged.”

1:10 p.m.

Wisconsin’s Republican-led state Assembly hopes to pass a $3 billion tax incentive plan for electronics manufacturer Foxconn within two weeks, an aggressive timeline being questioned by minority Democrats.

The state Assembly’s jobs and economy committee plans to hold a hearing on the measure on Thursday in the state Capitol. It plans to vote on advancing the bill on Aug. 7 with the full Assembly voting on the measure in mid-August.

Democratic state Rep. Gordon Hintz says holding a hearing Thursday given numerous questions about the bill is a “disgrace to all taxpayers in the state of Wisconsin.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says “My goal is to make sure we are as transparent and open as we possibly can be to make sure that the public fully understands what we are looking to do.”

12:35 p.m.

Gov. Scott Walker’s $3 billion incentive package to lure a Foxconn electronics plant to Wisconsin calls for the state to pay local governments’ expenses if the factory doesn’t move forward.

A Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis of the bill released Tuesday found provisions in the measure that would require the Legislature to pay up to 40 percent of local governments’ obligations related to Foxconn, such as building roads and sewers. The commitment would kick in only if the state Department of Administration secretary approved the obligation before it was issued.

The bill cites a “moral obligation” for the state to pick up the locals’ expenses.

Foxconn has agreed to build a $10 billion plant in southeastern Wisconsin. The company claims the plant could eventually employ as many as 13,000 people over six years.

10:50 a.m.

Gov. Scott Walker is meeting behind closed doors in the state Capitol with Republican lawmakers to discuss the $3 billion tax incentive package he’s offering electronics giant Foxconn.

Walker’s office confirmed his attendance at the Tuesday meetings as the focus turns to what the Republican-controlled Legislature will do with the proposed deal. Walker signed an agreement with Foxconn last week for the Taiwan company to build a $10 billion plant and employ up to 13,000 people over six years in southeast Wisconsin.

The Legislature must sign off on the $3 billion in tax breaks Walker offered. The deal also includes exemptions to a variety of state environmental laws, which is drawing criticism from Democrats and others.

A public hearing on the bill is expected as soon as later this week.

10:35 a.m.

Gov. Scott Walker says Wisconsin lured electronics giant Foxconn to the state even though others offered the company more money.

The Republican governor said Tuesday “at least one if not several other states” were prepared to give Foxconn more than Wisconsin’s $3 billion incentive package. But Walker added that “it wasn’t a huge gap.”

The other states Foxconn considered for its first U.S. manufacturing plant were Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Walker says he hopes lawmakers will work on approving the incentive package at the same time they try to finalize a state budget that’s a month overdue.

Environmentalists have expressed concern about the future Foxconn plant’s impact on wetlands, but Walker insists the company has to abide by all federal and state regulations.

9:55 a.m.

Republican state lawmakers are meeting privately to discuss a $3 billion incentive package for Taiwan-based Foxconn to build a new display panel manufacturing plant in Wisconsin.

Gov. Scott Walker called a special session that officially began on Tuesday, but no legislative action was expected until later in the week when the incentive bill was likely to get a public hearing.

Instead, Republicans who control the Senate and Assembly planned to meet privately to discuss the bill.

Concerns have been raised both about the cost to taxpayers and other provisions designed to accommodate Foxconn, like the waiving of numerous environmental permitting requirements and other regulations.

But Walker and other backers have pointed to the economic benefit of the proposed $10 billion plant that could employ up to 13,000 people.