OLYMPIA…In response to today’s announcement by Amazon.com that it has narrowed its search for a second-headquarters location to a short-list of 20 cities, Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, issued the following statement.

“The fact that Amazon’s finalists for HQ2 only include one West Coast city and none from Washington should be a wake-up call to policymakers – make it easier to do business in Washington or lose out on billions in economic growth.

“Many of our cities on both sides of the mountains were excellent options and would have benefitted greatly from what’s expected to be a $40 billion investment. That’s not just unfortunate. It’s tragic.

“We deeply appreciate the more than 40,000 jobs Amazon has brought to our state and the future jobs it will bring. We need to be vigilant about enacting policy that makes us friendly to job creators so we remain competitive.”

The Pacific Northwest is home to Amazon.com’s corporate headquarters, which contributes significantly to the economic growth in the Puget Sound. Democrat and Republican legislators wrote letters to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos requesting that the company consider seriously the HQ2 proposals submitted by cities across Washington.