Senate parliamentarian greenlights state AI law freeze in GOP megabill [View all]
Source: Politico
06/22/2025 08:30 AM EDT
The Senate’s rules referee late Saturday allowed Republicans to include in their megabill a 10-year moratorium on enforcing state and local artificial intelligence laws — a surprising result for the provision that’s split the GOP.
Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) rewrote a House-passed AI moratorium to try to comply with the chamber’s budgetary rules. His version made upholding the moratorium a condition for receiving billions in federal broadband expansion funds. Both parties made their arguments before the parliamentarian Thursday.
“It’s good policy,” Cruz said of the moratorium in a recent interview. Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) has also defended the provision, saying it’s necessary to avoid a “labyrinth of regulation” with “50 different states going 50 different directions on the topic of AI regulation.”
Though the parliamentarian delivered a victory for Republicans, a number of conservative senators including Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), have vocally opposed the provision.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/22/senate-parliamentarian-greenlights-state-ai-law-freeze-in-gop-megabill-00416499
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