{"id":1020,"date":"2025-07-01T13:50:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T13:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/?p=1020"},"modified":"2025-07-01T19:23:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T19:23:22","slug":"senate-strips-ai-provision-from-megabill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/2025\/07\/01\/senate-strips-ai-provision-from-megabill\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate strips AI provision from megabill"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Senate voted early Tuesday morning to strip a provision barring states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI)<\/a> from Republicans\u2019 tax and spending megabill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), was adopted 99-1, with only Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) voting against it. <\/p>\n

The removal of the provision marks a sharp turn of events for the AI moratorium. <\/p>\n

Blackburn announced Sunday she had reached a deal with Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on new language that would bar states from regulating AI for five years and featured exemptions for child online safety and publicity rights. <\/p>\n

However, she pulled support<\/a> for the updated provision late Monday and instead offered up the amendment to strike the measure from President Trump\u2019s sweeping tax bill. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Cruz ultimately got behind Blackburn\u2019s amendment early Tuesday, acknowledging that \u201cmany of my colleagues would prefer not to vote on this matter.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cA few hours ago, we had an agreement that Blackburn-Cruz was set to pass,\u201d he said on the Senate floor of his earlier deal with the Tennessee Republican.  <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I spoke to President Trump last year, last night, he said it was a terrific agreement,\u201d Cruz added. \u201cThe agreement protected kids and protected the rights of creative artists, but outside interests opposed that deal.\u201d <\/p>\n

Blackburn underscored her concerns with the language of the updated provision on the Senate floor. <\/p>\n

\u201cI regret that we weren’t able to come to a compromise that would protect our governors, our state legislators, our attorney generals and, of course, House members who have expressed concern over this language,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do want to thank Sen. Cruz for the work and the time that he put in trying to find a resolution to this issue. I do appreciate that,\u201d Blackburn continued. \u201cBut what we know is this \u2014 this body has proven that they cannot legislate on emerging technology.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She noted Congress\u2019s inability to pass legislation on online privacy, AI and other tech issues. Blackburn has been a key proponent of the Kids Online Safety Act, which she reintroduced last month. The bill passed the Senate last year but failed to move forward in the House.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know who has passed it?\u201d she added. \u201cIt is our states. They’re the ones that are protecting children in the virtual space. They’re the ones that are out here protecting our entertainers\u2019 name, image, likeness, of broadcasters, podcasters, authors. And it is appropriate that we approach this issue with the seriousness that it deserves.\u201d <\/p>\n

The updated version of the provision would have barred states from regulating AI for five years if they wanted access to $500 million in AI infrastructure and deployment funding. It cut in half the timeline of the original provision, which sought to bar state AI regulation for 10 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate voted early Tuesday morning to strip a provision barring states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) from Republicans\u2019 tax and spending megabill.\u00a0 The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Marsha Blackburn<\/p>\n

Continue reading <\/use> <\/svg>Senate strips AI provision from megabill<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1020"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1021,"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020\/revisions\/1021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/logicalware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}