The Senate’s AI moratorium proposal won’t impact copyright laws, such as those in Tennessee, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us Thursday.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., continued Thursday to criticize panel Republicans’ proposed spectrum language for the chamber’s budget reconciliation package (see 2506060029). She argued during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that the spectrum proposal would leave DOD and aviation stakeholders more vulnerable to China and other malicious actors. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui of California and 30 other chamber Democrats also urged Senate leaders to jettison language from the reconciliation package that would require governments receiving funding from the $42.5 billion BEAD program to pause enforcing state-level AI rules.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., joined Republican opposition to the proposed federal moratorium that would block enforcement of states' AI laws for 10 years (see 2506060019).
It’s unclear whether a proposed 10-year moratorium on AI regulation will survive parliamentary procedure in the Senate, and predictions vary based on political party and business interests.
Members of a bipartisan multistate AI policy working group are preparing an open letter opposing a U.S. House proposal that sets a 10-year moratorium on the enforcement of state AI laws (see 2505120067), Maryland Sen. Katie Fry Hester (D) told us Tuesday. Virginia Del. Michelle Lopes Maldonado (D), another working group member who has helped spearhead AI legislative efforts in her state, told us the House proposal appears to be part of a concerted industry effort to kill forward momentum on state AI bills. Meanwhile, senators we spoke to on Capitol Hill split largely on party lines about the plan Tuesday.
It would be a mistake for the Trump administration to undo President Joe Biden’s efforts at establishing a rights-based regulatory framework for AI technology, Democrats told us in interviews before the break.
Congressional GOP leaders are doubtful about lawmakers' chances of reaching a year-end deal on an additional $3.08 billion for the FCC's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program even as some Democrats are softening their insistence that the funding move in tandem with stopgap money for the FCC's lapsed affordable connectivity program. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, Rep. August Pfluger of Texas and nine other Republicans wrote congressional leaders Monday to press for rip-and-replace funding in a bid to highlight the issue amid the lame-duck frenzy.
The Senate Commerce Committee’s surprise adoption Wednesday of an amendment to the Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act (S-2238) that would allocate $7 billion in stopgap funding for the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program likely imperils chamber passage of that measure, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Debate over the pro-ACP amendment and a proposal that attached $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program also signaled continued friction among panel members over the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207).
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to mark up privacy legislation when it returns from recess the week of July 23, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters Thursday.
An FCC proposal that requires disclosing AI-generated content in political ads seems aimed at having rules ready for the 2024 presidential election, statements Thursday from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and agency spokespeople indicate. However, broadcast insiders told us there probably isn’t enough time for that to happen without causing severe disruption. The FCC is proposing an update of the political file rules “to meet the moment we are in,” Rosenworcel said during a news conference. Her statement was in response to a question about whether the rules would be in effect on Election Day. Rosenworcel didn't explicitly say the item was intended for the 2024 election, though. “She has been clear that the time to act on public disclosure of AI use is now,” an agency spokesperson said in an email after being asked to clarify the planned timing of the proposal.