Speaker Mike Johnson walks back comments that GOP would ‘probably’ try to repeal CHIPS Act
(CNN) — House Speaker Mike Johnson might have put a significant dent in the reelection hopes of one of the GOP’s most vulnerable congressional incumbents on Friday and later backtracked comments where he said he would consider repealing the CHIPS Act.
Earlier in the day at a campaign stop in Syracuse, New York, Johnson had told reporters that Republicans “probably will” try to repeal the semiconductor chip manufacturing package if they control Congress and former President Donald Trump wins the White House. The legislation is poised to bring a $100 billion microchip manufacturing center to the area where Johnson was campaigning with GOP Rep. Brandon Williams.
“As I have further explained and clarified, I fully support Micron coming to Central NY, and the CHIPS Act is not on the agenda for repeal,” Johnson later said in a statement. “To the contrary, there could be legislation to further streamline and improve the primary purpose of the bill—to eliminate its costly regulations and Green New Deal requirements.”
At the campaign event, Williams – who is facing a tough challenge from Democratic state Sen. John Mannion – had stepped in to say he would “remind (Johnson) night and day how important the CHIPS Act is” as Micron prepares to break ground on a plant in New York.
Williams said in a statement later Friday that he “spoke privately with the Speaker immediately after the event. He apologized profusely, saying he misheard the question.”
The CHIPS and Science Act was passed in 2022 and will invest more than $200 billion over a five-year period to help the US regain a leading position in semiconductor chip manufacturing. The new funding was intended to help companies bring chip manufacturing back to the US and, as a result, help lower costs and prevent supply chain disruptions.
Earlier Friday, Johnson was asked by a reporter from Citrus TV News, “The former president has said that he doesn’t support the CHIPS and Sciences Act. You voted against it. If you have a Republican majority in Congress and Trump in the White House, will you guys try to repeal that law?”
“I expect that we probably will, but we haven’t developed that part of the agenda yet,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to get over the election first and that’s why we’re so happy to be in New York’s 22nd. Brandon Williams is one of the most important races in the country and that’s why Democrats are spending millions and millions and millions of dollars to try to unseat him.”
After Williams defended the CHIPS Act, which he described as “hugely impactful here,” Johnson then said, “When you have an issue where consensus is necessary to be built, ‘cause different states have different perspectives on these things, you have to have somebody who is a strong advocate for that legislation. People listen to Brandon Williams. If that is an important thing for your district, you need this guy there to make that case.”
Johnson later said his objection to the CHIPS Act was related to other programs that were included in the bill. “We’re going to support chip manufacturing, we do not support the Green New Deal. When you separate those two things, that makes it a whole lot simpler,” he said.
Democrats immediately pounced on the gaffe. The “Kamala HQ” account on X posted video of the exchange, and Mannion commented, “Trump wants to dismantle, Johnson is in lock-step, Williams calls it corporate welfare.”
“In Congress, I’ll defend CHIPS and Science and keep the investments coming home to (Central New York) and the Mohawk Valley,” Mannion wrote.
Williams was not yet in Congress when the bill passed but criticized it on the campaign trail in 2022.
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