FREEPORT, IL - Gov. Pat Quinn says the outsourcing of 170 northern Illinois jobs is a good reason to back a piece of federal legislation to give tax breaks to companies that return jobs from overseas.

Quinn met Thursday with workers at Sensata Technologies. That company is closing its Freeport factory at the end of the year and moving work to China.

Some employees have generated national publicity through what they call a longshot plea to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to keep the plant open. Romney once led Bain Capital which owns Sensata. Romney, however, was no longer running Bain when Sensata took over the plant.

A news release on Quinn's Freeport stop doesn't mention Romney or Bain.

Quinn instead urges passage of the Bring Jobs Home Act.