Vivek Ramaswamy took to X Tuesday to criticize the Biden administration’s push to get $50 billion in chipmaking subsidies signed and awarded before President-elect Donald Trump takes power in January.
“This is highly inappropriate: they’re accelerating spending ahead of the transition of power,” Ramaswamy said, linking to a POLITICO interview with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo where she discussed her remaining work to implement the CHIPS and Science Act.
“I’d like to have really almost all of the money obligated by the time we leave,” Raimondo told POLITICO last week. She said the forthcoming change in administration sets “a clear deadline” that “focuses the mind,” noting that her timeline was always the plan, and not driven by the threat of a clawback under the Trump administration.
The administration finalized more than $16 billion in final awards for five companies after the election: TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Rocket Lab, BAE Systems and Intel. The Biden administration had unveiled just one contract before that, $123 million for Minnesota chipmaker Polar Semiconductor.
Ramaswamy announced Monday night that he and Elon Musk’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” will review every last-minute contract rolled out under the CHIPS Act, and another Biden administration spending initiative, the Inflation Reduction Act. Ramaswamy said he will also recommend that inspectors general scrutinize the spending.
Trump has derided the CHIPS Act as “so bad,” arguing that tariffs would have been a better approach to incentivize domestic manufacturing. But he has yet to suggest any explicit changes to the law’s implementation.