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Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill Thursday that would have allocated $65 million in federal funds for loans to purchase paper mills in Park Falls and Wisconsin Rapids.
In his veto message, Evers said he supports efforts to provide long-term relief to Wisconsin’s paper industry.
However, he objects to using federal COVID relief money from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to fund the loans.
He gave two main reasons for this objection.
First, he said it’s possible the U.S. Department of Treasury won’t let the ARPA funds be used for this purpose, since many paper mills were struggling even before the COVID-19 pandemic began.