Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday struck a deal that seeks to resolve a dispute over a Big Beautiful Bill provision that would set a ten-year moratorium on state-based artificial intelligence (AI) regulation.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Cruz added a provision into the Big Beautiful Bill that would provide states $500 million in additional funding for the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program as long as states do not regulate artificial intelligence.
Cruz and Blackburn reportedly struck a deal that would install carveouts in the AI provision to “protect kids, creators, and other vulnerable individuals from the unintended consequences of AI.”
The Volunteer State conservative led the movement against Cruz’s AI provision; it remains unclear if other AI skeptics such as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) will back the movement. Democrats are expected to force a vote to remove the provision.
Those in favor of the regulation seek to prevent many states such as California from installing onerous regulations on AI and bar dozens of states from creating a patchwork of regulations that tech companies have to comply with; those opposed believe that states should have the right to regulate AI, especially to address issues surrounding AI and safety.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said in an early June post on X:
Full transparency, I did not know about this section on pages 278-279 of the OBBB that strips states of the right to make laws or regulate AI for 10 years. I am adamantly OPPOSED to this and it is a violation of state rights and I would have voted NO if I had known this was in there. We have no idea what AI will be capable of in the next 10 years and giving it free rein and tying states hands is potentially dangerous. This needs to be stripped out in the Senate. When the OBBB comes back to the House for approval after Senate changes, I will not vote for it with this in it. We should be reducing federal power and preserving state power. Not the other way around. Especially with rapidly developing AI that even the experts warn they have no idea what it may be capable of. [Emphasis added]
David Sacks, the White House artificial intelligence and crypto czar, said that the provision is designed to block 50 separate regulatory regimes:
While I agree with MTG on most issues (especially Ukraine), in this case I believe that a temporary moratorium on state AI regulation is the correct small government position.
The alternative is a patchwork of 50 different regulatory regimes driven by the AI Doomerism that is becoming a dominant strain on the American and European Left. Funded and astroturfed by left-wing Silicon Valley billionaires like Dustin Moscovitz, the constant fear-mongering is intended to scare us into adopting their agenda of Regulatory Capture, WokeAI, and Global AI Governance. They already have regulatory initiatives underway in most Blue states as well as European capitals. (Some Republicans are also falling for their fake “China Hawk” rhetoric, even though AI over-regulation primarily benefits China.)
A federal moratorium on state regulation is justified under the Commerce Clause when inconsistent state laws would substantially burden interstate commerce. That is the case here. [Emphasis added]
“The America First position should be to support a moderate and innovation-friendly regulatory regime at the federal level, which will help rather than hobble the U.S. in winning the AI race,” Sacks added.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
