Trump Urges Repeal of Chips and Science Act, Rails Against 'Arab Sesame Street'
President Donald Trump urged lawmakers Tuesday night to “get rid” of the 2022 Chips and Science Act, which allocated $52 billion for domestic semiconductor manufacturing (see 2207280060). The law “is a horrible, horrible thing,” Trump said during his Tuesday night speech to a joint session of Congress. He asked House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to use “whatever’s left over” in unobligated Chips and Science Act funding “to reduce debt or any other reason you want to.” Trump was sharply critical of the statute during the 2024 presidential campaign, saying subsidies were a bad idea (see 2412090046). Johnson drew heat himself during the closing days of the campaign by first calling for Congress to repeal the Chips and Science Act and then quickly reversing course (see 2411040062).
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“We give hundreds of billions of dollars” in semiconductor subsidies, “and it doesn't mean a thing,” Trump said Tuesday night. “They take our money and they don't spend it. We're giving them no money. All that was important to them was they didn't want to pay the tariffs, so they came in their building, and many other companies are coming. We don't have to give them money.” Trump’s comments came a day after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. CEO C.C. Wei announced at the White House that the company is investing $100 million to build three chipmaking plants in the U.S. Trump falsely said Tuesday night that the federal government is “not giving [TSMC] any money” to build those plants. The Commerce Department awarded TSMC $6.6 billion in Chips and Science Act funding.
Trump again talked about $20 million in U.S. Agency for International Development funding going to “the Arab Sesame Street in the Middle East,” also known as the Iraq-based Sesame Workshop TV show Ahlan Simsim. Sesame Workshop clarified last month that the $20 million from USAID actually went to a separate early childhood development program with the International Rescue Committee called Ahlan Simsim Iraq.
Trump also praised the Senate for passing the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act (S-146) last month. That measure and House companion HR-633 would establish criminal liability for individuals and entities publishing nonconsensual intimate imagery, including AI-created deepfake porn. “Once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law,” Trump said.