Trump’s Intel Plan Was Once Floated by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren

In 2022, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proposed an amendment to the Chips Act that would have given the government an equity stake in return for funding. (Getty Images)

The Trump administration’s plan to take an equity stake in Intel might have been a surprise to many investors in recent weeks. But the idea isn’t a new one. It was first heard in the most left-leaning parts of the U.S. Senate.

When the Chips Act was being debated in 2022, Sens. Bernie Sanders (Ind., Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) proposed an amendment that would have turned the grants into equity stakes in the firms receiving money. It never reached the Senate floor for a vote.

“I am glad the Trump administration is in agreement with the amendment I offered three years ago,” Sanders, a frequent opponent of Trump’s policies, said in a statement. “Taxpayers should not be providing billions of dollars in corporate welfare to large, profitable corporations like Intel without getting anything in return.”

Warren, another Trump foe, added: “Donald Trump seems to have stumbled on an idea that I pushed years ago to promote corporate accountability.”

Meanwhile, Trump ally and libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky) has called the plan “a step towards socialism.”

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal’s free-market focused editorial page wrote: “Statism is gaining currency on the political left and right, resulting in a bizarre fusion of ideas.”

In a request for comment about the unusual political alignment, White House spokesman Kush Desai said: “Washington, D.C.’s blind commitment to consensus orthodoxy that ignored the realities of the world is exactly why Americans and America were left behind.”

The Chips Act passed the Senate in a 64-to-33 roll call vote in July 2022, with 17 Republicans joining 46 Democrats and independent Angus King in voting “yea.” Warren voted for the bill, but Sanders didn’t. Then-President Joe Biden signed the legislation the following month. Equity deals weren’t a part of the final legislation.

Last week, Sanders came out in support of Trump’s then-rumored agreement with Intel.

Warren has indicated ongoing disagreement with the president on his policies. “The President just saying he wants the public to have a stake in a major company isn’t the same as having a real strategy to rein in stock buybacks, onshore jobs, and support long-term economic growth in America,” she said.

Write to Adam Levine at adam.levine@barrons.com