gotchanewsdaily.com 
WASHINGTON โ House Speaker Mike Johnson said Republicans โprobably willโ try to repeal legislation that spurred U.S. production of semiconductor chips, a statement he quickly tried to back away from, saying he would like to instead โstreamlineโ it.
Johnson made the initial comment Friday while campaigning for a vulnerable New York GOP congressman in a district that is anticipating a large new Micron semiconductor manufacturing plant.
A reporter asked Johnson whether he would try to repeal the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had disparaged last week. โI expect that we probably will, but we havenโt developed that part of the agenda yet,โ Johnson replied.
Democrats quickly jumped on the Republican speakerโs comments, warning that it showed how Johnson and Trump are pursuing an aggressive agenda bent on dismantling even popular government programs.
The White House has credited the bipartisan CHIPS Act for spurring hundreds of billions of dollars of investments as well as hundreds of thousands of jobs. Vice President Kamala Harris has pointed to the legislation on the campaign trail as proof that Democrats should be entrusted with the U.S. economy.
Johnson, who voted against the legislation, later said in a statement that the CHIPS Act, which poured $54 billion into the semiconductor manufacturing industry, โis not on the agenda for repeal.โ
โTo the contrary, there could be legislation to further streamline and improve the primary purpose of the bill โ to eliminate its costly regulations and Green New Deal requirements,โ the speakerโs statement said.
It wasnโt the first recent comment Johnson has backed away from. He sought to recast comments he made saying he wanted to โtake a blowtorch to the regulatory stateโ and make โmassiveโ changes to the Affordable Care Act. After facing political blowback, he said repealing the healthcare law was โnot on the table.โ
The incident was emblematic of Johnsonโs struggle working closely with Trump and at the same time campaigning for his House colleagues, especially those locked in tough reelection battles that are crucial to Republicans holding a narrow majority. The speaker was campaigning for Rep. Brandon Williams, a New York Republican who worked in the tech industry before running for Congress two years ago.
Williams, who supported the CHIPS Act, said in a statement that he spoke privately with Johnson after the speaker suggested that the act could be repealed.
โHe apologized profusely, saying he misheard the question,โ Williams said.
Williamsโ district is anticipating a large new Micron semiconductor manufacturing plant. The company has said it received grants of $6.1 billion from the CHIPS Act to support its plans.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday, โAnyone threatening to repeal the CHIPS & Science Act is threatening more than 50,000 good-paying jobs in Upstate New York and $231 billion worth of economic growth nationwide.โ
Democrats are hoping the comments give them a late boost as they try to court working-class voters in regions that depend on factory jobs. Harris, during a recent campaign stop in Saginaw, Mich., toured another semiconductor factory to bring attention to the 2022 law.
In response to Johnsonโs comments Friday, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, Ammar Moussa, said, โHarris is running to bring manufacturing jobs back to America and make us competitive globally. The only way to guarantee these Republicans never get a chance to repeal these laws that are creating jobs and saving Americans money is to elect her president.โ
As of August, the CHIPS and Science Act had provided $30 billion in support for 23 projects in 15 states that would add 115,000 manufacturing and construction jobs, according to the Commerce Department. That funding helped to draw in private capital and would enable the United States to produce 30% of the worldโs most advanced computer chips, up from 0% when the Biden-Harris administration succeeded Trumpโs presidency.
Viet Shelton, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said, โMost politicians usually go to a community promising to create jobs in the town theyโre visiting. โฆ Mike Johnson, ever the trendsetter, decided to visit a town and promise to kill jobs in that town.โ
Groves writes for the Associated Press.
