U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) (R-LA) answers questions during a news conference with Republican leadership on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, September 18, 2024.
Win McNamee | Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Friday that Republicans “may” try to repeal legislation to spur U.S. semiconductor chip production, but he quickly tried to backtrack and said he wanted to “simplify” the legislation.
Johnson made his initial comments while campaigning for a vulnerable Republican congressman in New York, where a massive new Micron semiconductor manufacturing plant is expected to be built.
A reporter asked Johnson if he would try to scrap the bipartisan agreement CHIPS and the Science ActRepublican presidential candidate Donald Trump disparaged it last week. “I expect we may do that, but we haven’t set out that part of the agenda yet,” Johnson responded.
Democrats were quick to seize on the Republican spokesman’s comments, warning they showed how Johnson and Trump are pursuing The radical conservative agenda even works to dismantle popular government programs. The White House praised the CHIPS Act for spurring hundreds of billions of dollars in investment and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Vice President Kamala Harris Point to legislation on the campaign trail as proof that Democrats can entrust the U.S. economy.
Johnson, who voted against the bill, later said in a statement that the CHIPS Act, which would invest $54 billion in semiconductor manufacturing, “is not on the repeal agenda.”
“Instead, legislation may be passed to further simplify and improve the bill’s primary purpose of eliminating its costly regulations and Green New Deal requirements,” the spokesperson’s statement said.
This isn’t the first time Johnson has had to walk back comments recently. He had to clean up earlier this week He commented that He wants to “crack down on the regulatory state” and make “massive” changes to the Affordable Care Act. After facing political pushback, he said repealing the health care law was “not on the table.”
The incident was emblematic of Johnson’s close collaboration with Trump while campaigning for his House colleagues, particularly those locked in tough reelection battles that are crucial to the Republican Party’s slim majority. The speaker is campaigning for New York Republican Rep. Brandon Williams, who worked in the tech industry before running for Congress and supported the CHIPS Act.
Williams said in a statement that he had private conversations with Johnson after Johnson suggested the bill could be repealed.
“He apologized profusely and said he misheard the question,” Williams said.
A massive Micron semiconductor manufacturing plant is expected to be built in Williams District. The company said it received $6.1 billion in CHIPS Act funding to support its program.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement on Friday that “anyone who threatens to repeal the CHIP AND SCIENCE Act threatens more than 50,000 good-paying jobs in upstate New York and… Economic growth worth $231 billion nationwide.
Democrats hope the comments will give them late momentum as they try to win over working-class voters in areas dependent on factory jobs. While campaigning in Saginaw, Miss., Harris visited another semiconductor factory earlier this week to draw attention to the 2022 law.
In response to Johnson’s remarks on Friday, Amal Moussa, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said, “Harris is running to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States and make us globally competitive. Guarantee these Republicans never have to Chances are the only way to repeal these laws that create jobs and save Americans money is to elect her president.
As of August, the CHIPS and Science Act has provided $30 billion in support for 23 projects in 15 states, which will add 115,000 manufacturing and construction jobs, according to the Commerce Department. The funding helps attract private capital and allows the United States to produce 30% of the world’s most advanced computer chips, up from 0% when the Biden-Harris administration succeeded Trump as president.
Viet Shelton, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said: “Most politicians typically go to a community and promise to create jobs in the town they visit… Mike Johnson, once A trendsetter who decides to visit a town and promises to reduce employment opportunities in that town.
