Vice President Kamala Harris criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday for suggesting that Republicans might attempt to repeal the law CHIPS and Science Act in the event that they win Congress, a comment he has since tried to retract.
“I also want to address the comments that the speaker of the House made recently,” Harris told a gaggle of reporters in Milwaukee. “It's just further evidence of everything I've been talking about for months [former President Donald] Trump’s intention to implement the project in 2025.”
“We have spoken repeatedly about their intention to get rid of this Affordable Care Act. Now the CHIPS law must be repealed,” she added.
Speaker Johnson, R-La., made the comment at a campaign event Friday in New York for House Speaker Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., an endangered Republican Party candidate in one of the vital closely watched House races this election cycle .
“I expect we probably will, but we haven't developed that part of the agenda yet,” Johnson said in response to a reporter's query about whether Republicans would seek to repeal the law.
The CHIPS Act was passed by Congress in 2022 with bipartisan support. The law freed up nearly $53 billion in funding to construct domestic production of semiconductors, that are critical to the expansion of strategic industries similar to artificial intelligence. The federal government has greater than announced $30 billion in investments based on the law from August.
Harris has made investment in manufacturing a central pillar of her economic platform.
“It is my plan and intention to continue to invest in American manufacturing, in the work of American workers that preserves and promotes good union jobs,” Harris said in Milwaukee. “This is how we will win the competition with China in the 21st century.”
Trump: “Chip deal is so bad”
Johnson's remark followed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's attack on the CHIPS Act during an Oct. 25 interview with Joe Rogan.
In the interview, Trump accused Taiwan of stealing “our chip business” and called for tariffs on imported semiconductors.
“This chip deal is so bad,” Trump said. “We have allocated billions of dollars for rich companies to come in, borrow the money and build chip companies here, and they won't give us the good companies anyway.”
Rep. Williams' congressional district has welcomed the potential economic boost micron Semiconductor manufacturing facility funded by the CHIPS Act.
“The CHIPS law has a huge impact here,” Williams said in a subtle cleanup after Johnson’s comments. New York lawmakers also issued an announcement Friday saying Johnson apologized “profusely” for the error and said “he misunderstood the question.”
Democrats only need to realize 4 additional seats within the House of Representatives to wrest the gavel from Republicans in the following Congress. Polls up to now show the House race is basically at coin toss status.
Johnson has made attempts at further damage control since his Friday comments, saying after the campaign event that repeal of the CHIPS law was not on the Republican agenda.
Yet Democrats are piling on the faux pas just days before the Nov. 5 election.
“The Republican Speaker of the House just told the tens of thousands of construction workers working on the future of New York and America that they want to send them red slips as quickly as possible,” wrote Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. , on Friday post on the X platform.
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