President Donald Trump has set his sights on a legislative act aimed at kickstarting the U.S. semiconductor industry.The Trump administration said it wants to kill the CHIPS and Science Act, a Biden-era law that earmarked $50 billion in funding to help incentivize chipmakers to establish factories and offices in the U.S.Speaking in an address to Congress this week, Trump slammed the act, calling it a “horrible, horrible thing.”“We give hundreds of billions of dollars and it doesn’t mean a thing,” Trump said.“They take our money and they don’t spend it.”Killing the act would not be without precedent for the Trump White House.Throughout both his terms in office, Trump’s administrations have sought to roll back or eliminate laws and initiatives introduced by his Democratic predecessors. Such efforts are not uncommon when a new administration takes over the Oval Office, though Trump as been particularly aggressive in targeting Obama and Biden-backed legislation.In response to the president’s threats, House Democrats are moving to defend the CHIPS and Science Act from being wiped off the books. Speaking in a session for the House Subcommittee on Science, Space and Technology, California Rep. Zoe Lofgren said that killing the act would deal a blow to progress in the vital semiconductor space.“CHIPS and Science bolstered our research agencies’ resources and catalyzed cross-governmental harmonization of research security policies,” Lofgren said, as quoted by NextGov.“Unfortunately, the progress will backslide due to recent decisions.”In this case, the Democrats could have a rare bit of assistance from the other side of the aisle. While congressional Republicans have been known to march lock-step with the Trump administration on most issues, there might be some pushback from the GOP.NBC News cites multiple Republican aides and staffers on the Hill who believe that despite Trump’s calls to wipe away the act, there is far less appetite in Congress to make any sort of serious push to eliminate projects and potentially expose seats in vulnerable districts.Even without legislation from Congress, the Trump administration could still deal critical blows to the act.The ongoing purge lead by the Elon Musk-lead DOGE office has resulted in the proposal of severe job cuts and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and, in particular, projects that were enabled by the CHIPS and Science Act. While many of those cuts are likely to be walked back or overturned on appeal, projects tied to the act could still be hindered.
