13-05-2025
A decade of AI rules on ice?
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WASHINGTON WATCH
In a move that could dramatically reshape artificial intelligence oversight nationwide, Republicans have included a sweeping 10-year ban on state and local AI regulation in the budget reconciliation bill the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled late Sunday, POLITICO's Mohar Chatterjee and Anthony Adragna report.
The proposal is a concession to the tech industry and sets the stage for a fierce battle with state regulators and the Senate.
What the moratorium says: The proposed bill prohibits state and local governments from enforcing 'any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.'
The proposal lands amid growing tensions between federal lawmakers and aggressive state regulators, particularly in California, as tech giants lobby Washington to preempt the state's more muscular AI rules.
Tech industry response has been mixed. Zach Lilly, deputy director for state and federal affairs for tech lobbying group NetChoice, celebrated the provision,calling the language 'incredibly exciting' in a post on social media platform X.
But Brad Carson, president of the AI policy group Americans for Responsible Innovation, wrote in an email, 'Tying the hands of lawmakers when it comes to taking on big tech could have catastrophic consequences for the public, for small businesses, and for young people online.'
Byrd rule: The provision will likely hit a hitch in the upper chamber due to the Byrd law, which requires reconciliation packages to focus strictly on budgetary matters like federal spending, revenues and the debt limit.
House E&C aides defended the provision today as necessary for a $500 million technology upgrade, including AI implementation, at the Commerce Department. The moratorium was championed by committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) as a broader priority, the aides said.
Sign from the Senate: It's unclear whether federal AI preemption will pass via reconciliation, but the House move to include it signals it's a live-wire issue this Congress.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), ranking member of the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee, said in a statement that the ban gives 'Big Tech' free rein to 'take advantage of children and families. It is a giant gift to Big Tech and once again shows that Republicans care more about profits than people.'
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Artificial intelligence played a role in the first U.S.-born pope's name choice, NBC News reports. No, he didn't ask ChatGPT what his papal name should be. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost chose to be Pope Leo XIV to reflect the Catholic Church's role in helping believers navigate the new revolution brought by AI, according to the report.
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POLICY PUZZLE
The House Ways and Means Committee hopes AI can stem Medicare waste, fraud and abuse and find savings for its big tax cut package, Ruth reports.
The panel released on Monday its long-awaited 389-page bill that includes tax cuts and some increases. In addition to the tax policies, there are some changes for Medicare.
Chief among them is a directive for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to deploy AI to identify incorrect payments and get back any money wrongly sent out to providers under Medicare.
The directive would enable Kennedy to contract with an AI vendor or data scientists to roll out the technology and calls on the HHS secretary to reduce the improper payment rate of $31 billion a year by half or explain why he wasn't able to do so.
Other changes include reducing eligibility for Medicare, including removing any coverage for undocumented immigrants and opening up the use of health savings accounts to more Medicare patients.
The panel is expected to mark up its tax provisions starting today.
