Congressman Josh Riley, D-NY19, spoke out against the Trump administration’s plan to kill the CHIPS & Science Act during a Tuesday committee hearing of the House Space Science and Technology Committee, according to a news release from his office.
In last week’s Joint Session address to Congress President Donald Trump called the CHIPS Act a “horrible thing,” and encouraged Congress to kill future CHIPS spending, “a move that would devastate communities across Upstate New York and kill thousands of good-paying jobs in high tech manufacturing,” the release stated.
“The CHIPS & Science Act promises to restore Upstate manufacturing, creating thousands of good jobs,” Riley said. “Ripping that away will be IBM all over again, gutting our local economy and killing the chance for a manufacturing revival before it even begins. I’m not going to let a bunch of politicians who don’t know the first thing about Upstate New York rip that away.”
Upstate New York “stands to lose billions in investments and tens of thousands of jobs if CHIPS Act funding is gutted,” according to the release. In Binghamton, the New York Energy Storage Hub could lose up to $145 million. In Syracuse, Micron’s $6.1 billion grant — expected to create 50,000 jobs — could vanish. In Lansing, Menlo Micro’s planned $50 million facility, “bringing good jobs and economic growth to Tompkins County, could be at risk,” the release stated.