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Chicago Tribune
6 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Waukegan loses another firm to Wisconsin
While Gov. JB Pritzker was trying to answer inane questions from congressional Republicans last week, officials in Wisconsin were finalizing a deal to bring a top-notch Waukegan manufacturer to the Badger State. The impending move of Yaskawa America was but one in a series of recent bad jobs news for Illinois. Pritzker was among three Democratic governors summoned before the GOP-led House Committee on Oversight and Reform to defend the state's sanctuary laws for undocumented immigrants. He sparred with committee members, including Illinoisan Republicans Darrin Hood of Dunlap, a suburb of Peoria, and Mary Miller of Oakland, near Charleston, home of Eastern Illinois University. The governor could have used the wasted time — he was asked if he had ever used a woman's bathroom (he didn't think so) or if he supports the terrorist Hamas organization in Gaza (Pritzker is Jewish) during long hours of political theater — to be back home and work to save more than 2,100 Illinois jobs. That's the number that will be disappearing from the Land of Lincoln even before the announcement from Yaskawa that it will be pulling up stakes and moving to Franklin, Wisconsin, southwest of Milwaukee. According to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, 14 companies across the state, from Libertyville to Naperville to Momence in Kankakee County, will be furloughing workers. In Libertyville, 133 employees at two Bristol Myers Squibb sites in Innovation Park, off Route 45, south of Winchester Road, will be out of work beginning July 1. The pharmaceutical firm announced the layoffs early last month. Cardinal Logistics Management Corp., a North Carolina-based transportation and warehousing company, has gotten rid of 43 employees in Naperville Momence Packing Co., which makes Johnsonville sausage products, is scheduled to lay off 274 workers beginning Aug. 1. The aging facility's operations will move to other plants in Wisconsin and Kansas. Those are substantial job losses, but it is the Yaskawa move that hurts the most. Once again, Illinois has lost a major company to nearby Wisconsin, one which has been in Waukegan on Norman Drive, off Route 43, just north of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, since 1998. This is occurring while Wisconsin tourism, mainly supported by Illinoisans, for the third year in a row, set new records in total economic impact, number of visitors, and state and local revenue in 2024. The Wisconsin Department of Tourism says America's Dairyland brought in $25.8 billion from tourism last year. Yaskawa America won't be a tourist. Company officials said late last week the firm plans to invest at least $180 million and create more than 700 new high-paying jobs in Wisconsin. The company manufactures industrial robots, motion control devices, low- and medium-voltage alternating current drives, and solar inverters for numerous industries, including the semiconductor, machine tool, automotive, HVAC, pumping, oil and gas. The firm will consolidate its North American headquarters and training facility from Waukegan into one location in Franklin over the next eight to 10 years. The 800,000-square-foot campus in Franklin will include the Yaskawa America headquarters, training and lab building, as well as manufacturing and packaging facilities. 'We take pride in our cutting-edge technology, our commitment to quality, and our world-class manufacturing, and we look forward to a strong future of growth and innovation in Franklin,' Mike Knapek, chief executive officer of Yaskawa America, said in a statement announcing the move. The company's parent, Yaskawa Electric Corp., based in the northern Japanese city of Kitakyushu, is celebrating its 110th anniversary this year. The corporation has more than 15,000 employees worldwide with 81 subsidiaries and 24 affiliate companies. It has been operating in the U.S. since 1967. 'I am really excited to be celebrating Yaskawa's decision to relocate its headquarters to Wisconsin and expand its footprint here in the Badger State, bringing with them millions of dollars in capital investment in Southeastern Wisconsin and hundreds of high-quality, family-supporting jobs,' Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers crowed in announcing the firm's move out of Waukegan. Evers said the state has authorized up to $18 million in tax credits contingent upon the number of jobs created and the amount of capital investment during the relocation period. 'Companies from across the globe are choosing Wisconsin to grow and expand because they know we have the best workers making the best products,' Evers added, dismissing Illinois workers, noting Wisconsin is strengthening its 'position as a leader in advanced manufacturing'. Yaskawa joins the roster of Illinois firms which continue to find the grass is greener north of the border. Pritzker and Illinois economic development officials have yet to find a battle plan to counter the corporate exodus. They just seem to wave goodbye as more jobs walk away.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Shut Up!': House Hearing Erupts Into Chaos After Dem Calls Out ICE Barbie
A congressional hearing quickly devolved into a shouting match between two Republicans and a Democrat who sought a subpoena for Kristi Noem over the forcible removal of Senator Alex Padilla from a Thursday press conference. During a Thursday hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) implored his fellow lawmakers to subpoena Noem over the incident, which saw her security team manhandle and handcuff the Democratic senator after he loudly questioned the Homeland Security Secretary about ICE raids that have led to nationwide protests. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the committee chairman, quickly waved off Frost's concerns over the incident. 'Mr. Chair, also, we were just talking about this. I want to know if you can commit to working with us so we can subpoena,' Frost began to say, before Comer cut him off. 'You're out of order,' Comer replied. The two congressmen briefly spoke over each other until Comer recognized MAGA firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who entered the tense scene guns blazing. 'Oh, Democrats can't follow the rules, can't follow the law,' she said twice. 'We need to subpoena Kristi Noem,' Frost repeated. 'It's her staff, DHS federal officers, that threw a U.S. senator to the ground.' Greene continued to talk over the young Democrat: 'There's a privilege of the majority, and that means we're in charge. Not your side because you lost the election because you supported the invasion of our country.' Frost, Greene, and Comer all refused to back down until the chairman grew exasperated with the back-and-forth. 'Shut up. Just shut up,' Comer told Frost, who had repeatedly asked him to commit to subpoenaing Noem. 'No, you're not gonna tell me to shut up,' Frost hit back. 'He's been out of order six times,' Comer said of Frost. 'He is trying to get on MSNBC. You probably knocked somebody off MSNBC to get on there.' The chairman then handed the floor over to Greene, who lobbed a bizarre accusation at Frost without providing evidence. 'I think because he's been arrested as a former Antifa member, right?' she said of Padilla, referring to the far-left movement. 'He's a former Antifa member… Not surprised.' Frost appeared to be in disbelief as he asked for Greene's remarks to be taken off the record. The dramatic interaction ended when Greene turned her attention to New York Governor Kathy Hochul to ask questions. Several Democrats have rallied around Padilla following his wild takedown. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for an immediate probe into the 'un-American' incident: 'To look at this video and see what happened reeks—reeks—of totalitarianism," he said. 'This is not what democracies do.' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries echoed Schumer in a post, stating that those behind 'the brazen and aggressive manhandling of Senator Padilla' must be 'held accountable.' Noem called Padilla's interruption 'inappropriate,' while Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin slammed the senator for choosing 'disrespectful political theater.' Noem and Padilla spoke for 15 minutes after the incident, McLaughlin said.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
I testified at a congressional hearing on the JFK files — that was a mistake
'Dear Ms. Alexis Coe: The Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets requests your testimony ...' It was such a dignified pseudo-summons. I might have framed it, had the actual hearing — unsubtly and inaccurately titled 'The JFK Files: Assessing Over 60 Years of the Federal Government's Obstruction, Obfuscation, and Deception' — not devolved into a bleak farce. Of course, I was honored to be invited by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. But I knew the odds weren't in my favor: I was the lone witness called by the minority party, the only historian, the only woman cast in this made-for-YouTube morality play — pitted against Fox News regulars and their pick-me understudies: Reps. Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace — primed to attack, regardless of the subject matter. The five witnesses invited by the majority were all alive in 1963, decades before I was born. Over time, their theories appear to have hardened like volcanic glass and, for apparent true believers, were just as impervious to fact. Our written statements diverged starkly — though mine was conspicuously absent from the hearing's website for 36 hours, posted only after a special request. Still, hope — or perhaps hubris — lingered in my historian's heart. I truly didn't realize I was more decoy than foil until I took the oath. After that, it was undeniable: Congress is dominated by deeply unserious people wielding serious power. Most members didn't even bother to show up. Rep. Robert Garcia of California was the lone Democrat on the dais; a handful of Republicans sat spaced out in the raised committee seats, dwarfed by the empty expanse around them. The few questions posed were lazy and largely rhetorical. Rep. Mace, of South Carolina, breezed in long enough to barrel through a brief tirade about government secrecy before demanding 'Was this a cover-up, yes or no?' — of everyone but me. Between the members and the witnesses loomed a screen with a remote witness; he struggled to stay upright and awake. But he wasn't the main image. That distinction belonged to a grinning Tucker Carlson — patron saint of Republican grievance — front and center in a bizarre group photo that lingered for half the hearing. It wasn't an official slide; it was just a juvenile, irrelevant flex from a staffer. I wished I'd been allowed to make corrections throughout the hearing. The first witness — a long-retired dentist who had been a young resident in the Dallas emergency room where President John F. Kennedy died — set the tone. His testimony blended medical minutiae with conspiracy: Then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, he claimed, was too calm to be innocent. They understood archives the way toddlers understand taxes: not at all, and mostly through tantrum. They dismissed Ambassador Caroline Kennedy's actual record of transparency and early release — she's shared documents related to her assassinated father, said yes to countless research requests and generally bent over backward for historians. The majority's witnesses never used her honorific. Never mind that nothing substantial had surfaced since the last release of archival material related to the JFK assassination. They felt entitled to more, more, more. The committee's chairwoman, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, reveled in it. She waxed rhapsodic about how Donald Trump was the most transparent president ever, threatened to shake down Russia for documents and cast American archivists as CIA co-conspirators. None of that is true, but I take particular umbrage at the many attacks government-employed librarians faced during the hearing. Of course, none were present to explain how they are overworked, underfunded and operating within a gutted system increasingly strained by political interference. Yet they embody everything government should be: ethical, methodical, devoted to public service. I know this because their work enables my own. Rep. Luna didn't want to hear that. No Republican did. To serve their points, they'd cherry-pick my quotes to weaponize and flatten — sometimes referring to me as 'the historian' or 'Coo,' a new-to-me mispronunciation of my last name. Garcia asked me one question. I used the time I had to fact-check and, since I clearly couldn't beat 'em, tried to join them: If we all agreed that the CIA behaved badly in the 1960s — like J. Edgar Hoover's obsessive surveillance and sabotage of Martin Luther King Jr. — why not give the upcoming MLK release the same scrutiny? That's when Rep. Garcia — the lone Democrat on the dais — claimed to agree but cut me off and promptly left the hearing to his conservative colleagues. Fortunately, I'd pregamed with a thorough statement they absolutely hated. I reminded them of the exquisite irony — they mark their own papers private — and that history has consistently taken a dim view of enablers who shield demagogues from accountability, excuse their abuses and help consolidate their power. I did mean to inspire: The last time a demagogue held this much sway in Congress, it ended in censure. At the time, a young senator saw the way the wind was blowing — and stepped out in front of it. His name was John F. Kennedy. The other guy? Joseph McCarthy. After the hearing, a few staffers apologized. Mostly, though, I faced a lot of people's backs. When an actual archivist appeared, Luna introduced him to every witness except me. By that time, the feeling was mutual. I preferred the conspiracy theorists, too. At least they believed in something. So do I. Everything I do, including testifying, is an expression of my patriotism. I'm still down for the American Experiment — but I'm convinced the 119th Congress will do nothing to protect it. Its performance will end soon enough, but the damage won't. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How Chicago has managed the migrant influx: A deep dive before Johnson's congressional hearing
The Brief Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will testify before Congress about the city's sanctuary policies, following a request from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Since August 2022, over 51,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago, leading to significant financial expenditures, with the city spending $638.7 million on migrant aid. Chicago has faced controversies regarding the establishment of migrant shelters in various neighborhoods, including the West Town and Woodlawn areas. CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will testify before Congress this week about the city's status as a sanctuary city. The appearance follows a formal request from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which sent a letter to City Hall last month asking Johnson to participate in a public hearing on Capitol Hill. The letter raised concerns about the impact of sanctuary policies in Chicago, as well as in New York, Boston and Denver. RELATED:Why is Brandon Johnson testifying before Congress? Johnson has said he would defend the people of Chicago and comply with the 2017 Illinois Trust Act, which prohibits local law enforcement from participating in federal immigration enforcement. Ahead of Johnson's testimony, here's a detailed look at migrant arrivals and key developments since 2022. By the numbers Since Aug. 31, 2022, over 51,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago from the southern border. From August 2022 to December 2024, the city reported 946 buses arriving with asylum seekers. Of these, 602 buses arrived at the city's designated "Landing Zone," while 344 buses and two planes brought additional arrivals since November 2024. As of December 2024: Total Individuals Seeking Asylum Arriving via Texas Buses & Airplane: 51,648 Total Individuals Seeking Asylum Arriving via Airplane Since June 2023: 5,209 Total Bus Arrivals in Chicagoland Area Since 8/31/2022: 946 Total Individuals Resettled: 17,183 Total Individuals Reunited with Sponsors: 7,689 Total Shelter Census: 2,487 Total Awaiting Placement: 0 Money Spent Chicago has allocated significant funds to support migrants arriving in the city since August 2022. As of February, Chicago has spent $638.7 million on migrant aid. Funding sources include: American Rescue Plan Act: $94 million City Corporate Fund: $268,163,828 Cook County Asylum Seeker Grant: $36,620,606 Federal Health Grant: $1,568,730 FEMA Asylum Seeker Grants: $87,522,646 State Asylum Seeker Grants: $149,862,603 City officials and residents have debated the sustainability of such spending and its impact on local communities. To address ongoing needs, the city launched the "One System Initiative" in December 2024, unifying migrant and homeless shelters into a single support network. The transition included adding 3,800 beds to the Department of Family and Support Services' current capacity and eliminating 30-day shelter extensions. Mayor Johnson described this initiative as a "cost-effective, equitable, and strategic approach" to addressing homelessness while responding to the decline in new migrant arrivals. PREVIOUS STORY: Migrants in Chicago: State funds hotel stays for hundreds of asylum seekers amid 'unprecedented' influx The city said a five-year plan was being created to enhance services for unhoused residents. Funding has also been a contentious issue in Chicago, with many local groups questioning how the city could suddenly allocate millions of dollars for new arrivals while long-standing community needs go unmet. In 2024, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced plans to spend an additional $182 million in state funds to address the growing number of migrants in Chicago and Cook County. Republican lawmakers pushed back, arguing that the state should prioritize its citizens over new arrivals. Instead, Republicans called for increased funding for health care, law enforcement, and homeownership programs for residents. RELATED: Chicago aldermen push for more funding amid reports of migrants sleeping inside police stations Chicago City Council approves $51M for migrant aid Chicago mayor on migrant crisis: 'Entire country is now at stake' without significant assistance from Biden Chicago's efforts to accommodate an influx of migrants sparked various controversies over the years, particularly concerning the establishment of shelters in different neighborhoods. The backstory In West Town, a building near Western and Ohio was repurposed to house migrant families in November 2023. Despite legal challenges from local residents aiming to halt the move-in, a judge denied the request for a temporary restraining order. Migrant families began relocating to the facility, which had undergone renovations to add more bathroom facilities. Prior to this, many of the migrants had been living in tents or police station lobbies. READ MORE HERE The backstory The decision to convert the former Wadsworth Elementary School in Woodlawn into a migrant shelter was met with significant opposition. Residents and local leaders expressed frustration over the lack of community consultation. Alderman Jeanette Taylor highlighted that the city proceeded without engaging the community, leading to protests and activists camping outside the facility. Concerns centered around resource allocation and the potential impact on the neighborhood. The Wadsworth building once had more than 500 students in attendance when it was active. In February 2023, city officials said 250 adult migrants moved in. READ MORE HERE The backstory Plans to erect a migrant tent shelter in Brighton Park led to heated community meetings. Residents voiced strong objections, feeling excluded from the decision-making process. Tensions escalated to the point where Alderman Julia Ramirez and her aide were physically attacked during a protest against the shelter. In December 2023, Governor J.B. Pritzker halted construction after environmental reviews revealed significant contamination, including elevated levels of mercury and arsenic in the soil. PREVIOUS STORY: Pressure mounts on Chicago mayor as costs for failed Brighton Park migrant site reach nearly $1M Despite initial assurances from city officials that remediation efforts had rendered the site safe for temporary residential use, the state decided to discontinue plans for the shelter due to these environmental concerns. Following the cancelation, several City Council members called for the resignation of officials involved in the failed project, criticizing the lack of transparency and collaboration with the community. READ MORE HERE What we know In January 2024, Chicago officials announced that they were 'pausing' efforts to open additional shelters and relying on the state to create more beds. To stay within its 'New Arrivals Mission' budget, a spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson said at the time that the city was turning its focus to "outmigration and resettlement services." As migrants found more permanent housing, officials said space was becoming available in the city's 28 shelters. PREVIOUS ARTICLE: Chicago 'pauses' new migrant shelters The backstory A migrant shelter in the Pilsen neighborhood was linked to the majority of measles cases in an outbreak that began in early March 2024. These cases marked the first reported instances of measles in Chicago since 2019. About half of the cases involved children under 5 years old. By April 2024, the City of Chicago reported a significant decline in measles cases following the implementation of a vaccination campaign aimed at individuals lacking protection. Measles, characterized by symptoms such as high fever, cough, runny nose, red or watery eyes, and a rash, is highly contagious. The rash typically appears three to five days after the onset of symptoms, and individuals exposed to measles may remain asymptomatic for one to two weeks. The backstory In December 2023, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced stricter penalties for bus companies that failed to comply with the city's guidelines when transporting migrants from the southern border. The proposed rule aimed to impose penalties on private bus operators who did not comply with specified rules regarding the location and timing of migrant drop-offs. Violations of the established rules could result in fines ranging from $2,000 to $10,000. MORE:Chicago looks to implement stricter rules for migrant bus operators In response, some bus operators began bypassing Chicago, opting to drop off passengers in suburban areas instead. Elburn: In December 2023, a bus carrying 38 migrants made an unannounced stop in Elburn. The village board responded by approving an ordinance to restrict "unscheduled intercity buses." Lockport: Migrants were dropped off at a Metra station without prior notice in December 2023. Local police coordinated with the Office of Emergency Management and Communications to transport the migrants to Chicago. Fox River Grove: A bus from Texas left 38 migrants at a Metra station after midnight, misleading them to believe they were in Chicago. Local authorities provided temporary shelter and facilitated their travel to the city. Peotone and Kankakee: Migrants were found walking along highways after being dropped off without guidance. In Kankakee, a bus driver falsely informed passengers they had arrived in Chicago, leaving them stranded at a gas station. Hinsdale: The village received 11 migrant buses over 11 days, prompting officials to impose fines of $750 per passenger for unannounced bus arrivals. RELATED:Chicago-area migrant bus battle intensifies as more towns crack down To manage the situation, several suburban municipalities implemented measures to regulate migrant accommodations. Elk Grove Village introduced an ordinance prohibiting hotel and motel owners from housing individuals without medical documentation confirming they are free from contagious diseases within the past 60 days. This rule exempts those who have resided in the U.S. for at least a year. Additionally, the ordinance restricts warehouse owners from converting their buildings into temporary housing facilities. Similarly, Schaumburg enacted a tax on hotel stays exceeding 30 days to deter the prolonged housing of migrants in local hotels. This decision aimed to protect the village's convention business and address residents' concerns. What's next Mayor Johnson's upcoming testimony before Congress will likely address both the city's response to the migrant crisis and the broader impact of sanctuary city policies. Dig deeper One of the policies Johnson will likely discuss is the Welcoming City Ordinance, which stops city agencies and employees from getting involved in civil immigration enforcement or helping federal authorities with such efforts. The ordinance outlines specific restrictions, including the following: Agencies and agents cannot stop, arrest or detain individuals based solely on their immigration status or an administrative warrant, such as those found in the FBI's National Crime Information Center database. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents cannot access detainees or use city facilities for investigative purposes. City employees are restricted from spending time responding to ICE inquiries about a person's custody status, release date, or contact information unless it is to determine whether a situation involves solely civil immigration violations. Agencies are barred from entering agreements under federal law that allow local entities to enforce federal civil immigration law. The transfer of individuals into ICE custody for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement is prohibited. City resources cannot be used to assist civil immigration operations, such as setting up traffic perimeters or providing on-site support. CPD has to follow certain protocols when ICE or other federal agencies ask for help. Supervisors are responsible for figuring out if the request is about civil immigration enforcement. If it is, they have to decline the request and notify the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Chicago also has rules in place to limit how city agencies handle information about people's immigration or citizenship status. For example, agencies can't ask for, keep, or share this information unless federal law, a court order, or a warrant says they have to. There are some exceptions, like if someone gives written permission or if the city's legal team needs it for certain legal matters. Also, applications and forms for city services can't ask about someone's citizenship or immigration status. Departments need to check and update these forms every year to make sure they're following the rules. Finally, federal agencies can't access city databases or data-sharing platforms if they're trying to enforce civil immigration laws. The Source The information in this article came from previous FOX 32 Chicago coverage along with information from the city of Chicago's website.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Rep. Eli Crane stunned at 'insane' sum in taxpayer funds used for transgender animal studies
At least $241 million in taxpayer funds was spent on transgender surgeries and animal experiments, prompting a congressional lawmaker to question the rationale behind the expenditures. Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., on Wednesday, said spending millions on such treatments was "insane, right?" During a Feb. 6 House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing titled: "Transgender Lab Rats and Poisoned Puppies: Oversight of Taxpayer Funded Animal Cruelty," earlier this month, Justin Goodman of the White Coat Waste Project (WCW) watchdog group said the federal government spent millions on "transgender animal testing." Gop Lawmaker Scraps With Democrat In Hearing Over Transgender 'Slur,' Bathroom Rights: 'Not Going To Have It' "I would say that's the floor, not the ceiling," Goodman told Crane. "In a lot of these cases, they involve mice, rats, monkeys, who are being surgically mutilated and subjected to hormone therapies to mimic female to male or male to female gender transitions, gender-affirming hormone therapies, and then looking at the biological, psychological and physiological effects of the gender transitions, looking at the effects of taking vaccines after you've transitioned these animals from male to female or female to male, looking at the size of their genitals changing after you've put them on estrogen or testosterone therapies to transition them," he added. Read On The Fox News App In one instance, a $1.1 million grant was handed out to give female lab rats testosterone to mimic transgender male humans and observed to determine if they are likely to overdose on a rape drug, he said. "Anthony Fauci lied to the American people about masks, vaccines, social distancing, gain-of-function research, and the origins of COVID-19," Crane said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "On top of these egregious actions, he also authorized more than $200 million of taxpayer funds for 'transgender animal testing'." "Hardworking Americans are sick of these disgusting uses of their resources. Congress must return to single-subject spending bills, so we can permanently cut these fraudulent programs line-by-line." he added. Goodman said that many of the taxpayer-funded animal studies aren't easily accessible to the public. "You essentially need a degree in information technology to navigate the federal spending databases to find any of this stuff," he said, adding that the databases aren't transparent "by design." Goodman said the WCW estimates that more than $20 billion has been spent on ineffective animal research. West Point Disbands Gender-based, Race Clubs In Trump's Dei Sweep Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), funded 95% of the transgender animal experiments, Goodman said, citing a WCW analysis. In 2024, $10 million was spent on creating transgender animals, a study by the White Coat Waste Project revealed. "Last year, the White Coat Waste Project exposed more than $10 million in taxpayer funds that were spent creating transgender mice, rats and monkeys," Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., at the hearing. "These DEI grants funded painful and deadly transgender experiments that forced lab animals to undergo invasive surgeries and hormone therapies at universities across the country." Mace then criticized the Biden administration's agenda for allowing taxpayer dollars to fund "surgically mutating animal genitals." "The U.S. government spends in excess of $20 billion a year conducting experiments on animals," Mace said. "We spent over $1 million to find out if female rats receiving testosterone therapy were more likely to overdose on a date rape drug. That's what your taxpayer dollars were being spent on." Goodman noted that animal testing is incredibly "inaccurate and expensive" and "not very good at projecting the human health effects or environmental effects of chemicals and pesticides." He also noted that the Biden administration overturned a Trump-era plan to phase out animal testing. Fox News Digital has reached out to Crane's article source: Rep. Eli Crane stunned at 'insane' sum in taxpayer funds used for transgender animal studies
