Saturday, 02 August 2025

Senate Parliamentarian Allows Controversial AI Restriction Moratorium To Remain In ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’

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According to multiple reports, the Senate parliamentarian has allowed a controversial 10-year moratorium on enforcing state and local regulations on artificial intelligence to remain in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill.’

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) rewrote the 10-year moratorium to meet budget rules and made upholding the provision a condition to receive federal funding.

From POLITICO:

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.”

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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.

Hawley has vowed to work with Democrats on an amendment to remove the language once the megabill hits the floor.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and the House Freedom Caucus have also opposed the AI moratorium, with Greene threatening to oppose the megabill H.R. 1 (119) if the legal freeze remains.

“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,” Greene said earlier this month.

“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,” she added.

“I’m not voting for the development of skynet and the rise of the machines by destroying federalism for 10 years by taking away state rights to regulate and make laws on all AI. Forcing eminent domain on people’s private properties to link the future skynet is not very Republican,” Greene said in another post.

“Also, AI is going to replace a vast array of human jobs, everything from media to manufacturing to even construction through AI computer systems and robotics. That means in my manufacturing district, that currently has a 2.8% unemployment rate, AI will replace many human jobs,” she added.

The Hill reports:

The decision, announced by lawmakers over the weekend, followed weeks of speculation from both parties over whether the provision would overcome the procedural hurdle known as the Byrd Rule.

The parliamentarian’s decision will allow the provision to be voted on in the budget reconciliation process with a simple-majority vote.

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It comes after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, altered the language of the House’s version in hopes of complying with the Byrd Rule, which prohibits “extraneous matters” from being included in reconciliation packages.

Under their proposal, states would be prohibited from regulating AI if they want access to federal funding from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

The House’s version called for a blanket 10-year moratorium on state laws regulating AI models and systems, regardless of funding.

Still, some GOP members remained skeptical it would pass the Byrd Rule. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said last week it was “doubtful” the provision survives.


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