SPARTANBURG, SC (WSPA) – South Carolina lawmakers are responding to a Dec. 6 Reuters report that claims President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is looking for ways to get out of a nearly half-billion-dollar investment deal with the Companies based in Wisconsin to exit include the defense company Oshkosh Defense.

According to the report, the incoming Trump administration plans to cut government spending when the former president takes office in January. One of those methods is reportedly for the federal government to withdraw from a $482 million initial investment agreement the United States Postal Service entered into with Oshkosh Defense in 2021.

According to the company, which has a facility in Spartanburg County, the deal was expected to last more than a decade and would see Oshkosh Defense produce up to 165,000 electric and diesel-powered vehicles. It would also create more than 1,000 jobs in Spartanburg County.

In a statement, Oshkosh Defense said: “We are honored to have been selected by the United States Postal Service (USPS) in February 2021 to support their important work by producing American-made Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs). Since being selected to fulfill the NGDV contract in 2021, Oshkosh and the USPS have worked closely together to create a modernized fleet with a flexible mix of U.S.-made Designing and deploying electric and gas vehicles that will connect every home and business across the country. New vehicles are in use today which have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from postal operators and we remain on track to meet all delivery deadlines. Oshkosh is fully committed to our strong partnership with the USPS and looks forward to continuing to provide our mail carriers with reliable, safe and sustainable modern delivery vehicles as the USPS’ needs continue to evolve.”

The company said USPS originally sent it an order for 50,000 vehicles in 2022, 90% of which would be gas-powered and the rest would be electric vehicles. Then in 2023, after President Biden enacted the Inflation Reduction Act, Oshkosh said USPS sent them an amendment.

“Using money from the Inflation Reduction Act, (USPS) changed the percentages to 70% battery electric vehicles and 30% internal combustion engines,” said U.S. House Representative William Timmons (R-SC). Timmons represents parts of Spartanburg County and Greenville County.

Timmons said he thought the Reuters report was misleading and did not believe local jobs would be lost.

“I feel like the reporting is more accurate to say that there is a very good chance that Trump will save a billion or two billion dollars by producing internal combustion engines, which is what the Postal Service originally wanted when it built them. “We made their business decision before the crazy liberals in Washington tried to rush into a green reimagining of the New Deal,” Timmons told 7NEWS.

South Carolina state Sen. Joshua Kimbrell (R-11), who represents Spartanburg County, said the media reaction to the report was “exaggerated” and said he does not believe jobs will be lost at the facility.

“We certainly don’t want to lose jobs, but I also won’t undermine the president-elect’s efforts to promote government efficiency because of a particular contract,” Kimbrell said. “We definitely want Oshkosh to be successful. I believe they do.”

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