Today, Senator Tammy Baldwin wrote an op-ed in the Wisconsin State Journal praising Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan to invest in American manufacturing and strengthen “Made in America” provisions for Wisconsin.

She also emphasizes the harmful impact the Trump Administration’s tax cuts for billionaires and big businesses has on working people. Baldwin sees Biden’s plan as an opportunity to strengthen the Wisconsin workforce and bring back manufacturing jobs.

Read more of Baldwin’s op-ed below:

Wisconsin State JournalSen. Tammy Baldwin: Biden’s “Made in America” plan puts Wisconsin manufacturing first

Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, Wisconsin manufacturers have found it harder and harder to get by. Even before Trump failed to adequately address the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturing across the Badger State was in decline.

We’ve seen the Trump Administration cut taxes for billionaires and big business, while workers have been given pink slips. His belligerent trade wars closed hard-earned markets overseas and hurt our workers. Federal contracts awarded to foreign corporations have increased by a staggering 30 percent. And instead of giving incentives for job creation here at home, Trump has decided to reward companies that send American jobs overseas.
Trump’s presidency has been anything but “America first.” And throughout the past three years, he has been choosing corporations over workers — in fact, putting America’s working families last.

In the Senate, I’ve been working for years on “buy American” provisions to boost our “made in Wisconsin” manufacturing economy and reward hard work. We’ve made some important progress. But in order to keep on the right course to create more good-paying jobs here in Wisconsin, we need new leadership in the White House. That leader is Joe Biden.

Biden has laid out a bold and ambitious economic recovery plan that would have a tremendous impact here in the Badger State. He knows we can’t go back to the way things were before the COVID-19 pandemic — we have to build back better.

Biden’s economic recovery plan invests in hard work — not wealth. That’s why as president, he would make sure that our future is made in Wisconsin by Wisconsin workers. Biden would stand up for organized labor — and give every worker the chance to join a union and collectively bargain. His plan would mobilize the federal government to invest in American manufacturing in a way we haven’t seen in decades — and that’s exactly what we need.

He’d start by making a historic $400 billion federal procurement investment in American-made products — creating a new demand for goods and creating the largest public investment in domestic manufacturing since World War II.

We also need to build supply chains so we aren’t depending on hostile countries like China during times of crisis. That’s why Biden would bring back this production to the United States — so American manufacturers can make our own gloves, masks, gowns and critical personal protective equipment.

Finally, if we’re going to grow our manufacturing industry, we need to be competing on a level playing field. Biden has the experience it takes to hold countries like China accountable for currency manipulation and efforts to steal our intellectual property. We also need to reverse Trump’s incentives for offshoring American jobs to countries like China and Mexico — and enact a “claw back” provision, which would force a company to return any tax benefits if they move operations overseas.

Biden knows that if we’re going to recover from this economic downturn, we first have to restore the backbone of our country — working families. Wisconsin workers can out-compete anybody if they’re given a fair shot — but we need leadership in the White House that values their work and dignity. That’s why we need Joe Biden.

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