A new report in E&E News exposes House Republicans for lambasting the CHIPS and Science Act, then celebrating it after it delivered billions of dollars in investment to their communities.
The report highlights vulnerable members Rep. María Elvira Salazar, who voted against the bill, and Rep. Brandon Williams, who called the bill a “corporate welfare package” on the campaign trail, for falsely playing up their contributions to the funding.
Read more on House Republicans’ blatant hypocrisy below.
Several Republicans who voted against the CHIPS and Science Act are taking credit for the bill’s support for tech hubs, many of which are devoted to energy and environmental issues.
The law was one of the major accomplishments of President Joe Biden’s first two years. And as they did with the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, GOP lawmakers who opposed the legislation are now cheering its benefits.
The CHIPS and Science Act included a $50 billion authorization for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and pumped billions of dollars to help U.S. manufacturers produce the semiconductors and chips necessary for electric cars and other clean tech.
It also created a program to fund Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs, which will compete for up to $75 million to develop and implement projects to “supercharge a critical technology ecosystem.”
Of the 31 tech hubs designated last month, 15 would directly assist the Biden administration’s climate goals. Ten of those are in states or districts represented by Republicans in Congress who did not vote for the CHIPS and Science Act.
And 10 of those Republicans are now either taking credit for helping secure funding or touting the money’s benefits to their states and districts.
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), a top Democratic target, has been particularly effusive in her enthusiasm for the designation of the South Florida Climate Resilience Tech Hub, even though she voted against CHIPS and Science.
Justin Chermol, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, called the about-face “exactly the sort of insincere behavior that the public hates, and the DCCC will be sure to remind voters of Salazar’s do-nothing agenda over the next year.”
Like Salazar’s spokesperson, other Republican press operations sought to play up their bosses’ contributions to the arena of innovation and clarify the circumstances under which the lawmakers might have supported the CHIPS and Science Act.
Such nuance is not likely to be part of the election-year messaging. At the time of the tech hubs announcement last month, the DCCC put out a statement under the heading, “REMINDER: [Rep.] Brandon Williams Derided the CHIPS and Science Act Until It Became Politically Expedient.”
The New York Republican, now in his first term in Congress, on the campaign trail in 2022 slammed the legislation as a “corporate welfare package for the profitable chip industry.”
Since that time, he has praised semiconductor manufacturing company Micron’s multibillion-dollar investment for a computer chip factory in his district.
Of the NY SMART I-Corridor announcement, Williams said he was “honored to build on the success” of local leaders in making central New York “a magnet of innovation and technological advancement.”
“MAGA extremist Brandon Williams derided legislation bringing billions of dollars in investment and creating good-paying jobs for New York’s 22nd Congressional District,” DCCC spokesperson Ellie Dougherty said in response. “Central New Yorkers aren’t fooled.”
A spokesperson for Williams did not respond to a request for comment.
