Watch: Mike Johnson Brutally Called Out for CHIPS Act Stance
A senior Democrat called bullshit on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s weak excuse for saying he planned to repeal the lucrative CHIPS Act.
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly appeared on Fox News Sunday to urge Americans to believe Johnson and Donald Trump when they voiced their intention to repeal the CHIPS Act, a program that created subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.
“Donald Trump last week said he was going to kill the CHIPS Act, which is bringing all these semiconductor manufacturing jobs, and just this week the speaker of the House Mike Johnson confirmed that if Donald Trump is president, they’re going to end this program. We’re talking about tens of thousands of good paying jobs,” Kelly said.
During an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast two weeks ago, Trump called the CHIPS Act a “bad deal.” When Johnson was asked Friday whether he and Trump planned to repeal that program, the House speaker said that he expected they “probably will” try to repeal it, even though it wasn’t currently on their agenda.
During Sunday’s interview, host Shannon Bream interrupted Kelly, saying that Johnson has since walked back his statement, claiming that he “misheard” the question.
“Yeah, Shannon, I went back and listened multiple times to what he said and the question. It’s very clear to me that he didn’t misunderstand what was said there; he actually repeated part of the question in the answer,” Kelly responded, unconvinced.
Kelly went on to say that the CHIPS Act was probably “the biggest foreign investment in our country,” bringing $100 billion in investments from private companies to Arizona alone.
“You heard it one way. He says he didn’t hear the question,” Bream insisted.
MARK KELLY: Trump last week said he's going to kill the CHIPS Act, which is bringing all these semiconductor manufacturing jobs, and just this week Mike Johnson confirmed they'll end that program. We're talking about tens of thousands of good paying jobs.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 3, 2024
BREAM: Well, the… pic.twitter.com/kfWb3KKzPR
That excuse didn’t come from Johnson but instead from Republican Representative Brandon Williams, who was attending the same event with Johnson in Syracuse, New York.
Williams was quick to clean up Johnson’s mistake, calling the CHIPS Act “hugely impactful.”
Micron Technology plans to break ground on a $100 billion chip-making factory in central New York next year, providing billions of dollars and thousands of jobs to the area, according to Syracuse.com. The CHIPS Act is providing $20 billion to Micron, which has said that without CHIPS Act subsidies, it would not build in the U.S.
“I will remind [Johnson] night and day how important the CHIPS Act is, and that we break ground on Micron,” Williams said in a statement released Friday. Johnson voted against the CHIPS Act, and Williams, who was not in office when it was passed, criticized the measure on the campaign trail in 2022.
“I spoke privately with the speaker immediately after the event. He apologized profusely, saying he misheard the question,” Williams said.
A photograph posted by Luke Radal, the journalist who asked a question, revealed that he was standing inches away from Johnson when the House speaker “misheard” his question.
Later that day, Johnson released a statement of his own. “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 said. “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.”
As Johnson had originally said when he answered the question, the CHIPS Act isn’t on the agenda—but it “probably” will be.