Senator Baldwin Secures Win for Wisconsin Manufacturers in Bipartisan Government Funding Legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, successfully secured federal investments for medium and heavy wheeled vehicles produced by Oshkosh Defense in the year-end bipartisan government funding legislation that was recently signed into law. This will support hundreds of jobs in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, as well as hundreds more in small and medium sized businesses across the Midwest, and is crucial to our national and economic security.

“Wisconsin manufacturers like Oshkosh Defense strengthen our national defense and create jobs, but in 2020, Trump took money away from Oshkosh Defense to pay for his border wall that he promised Mexico would pay for,” said Senator Baldwin. “I worked to secure an increase in funding for these important programs in 2021 so that Oshkosh Defense can continue doing what it does best – building the safest and highest quality Made in Wisconsin vehicles for the brave men and women of our military.”

This increase in funding for the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) and the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) are huge wins for workers in Oshkosh and for more than 300 companies that comprise the FMTV and HEMTT supplier base – 60% of which are small businesses. The former President’s budget request again included steep cuts to tactical wheeled vehicle programs, including for FMTV and HEMTT, exerting harmful and unnecessary pressure on the base of companies supporting this program.

Senator Baldwin secured more than $181 million in appropriations for the FMTV program and more than $96 million for the HEMTT to help Oshkosh meet the minimum sustainment rates (MSR), or the rate of production needed to keep the production lines open and running. She also secured language in the bill that acknowledges that the Army has not been budgeting for FMTVs at a level sufficient to meet MSR. The language says that Congress expects the Army to reflect MSR in future budget requests—which is important to the workers that support the program but also to meet the needs of the Army.