The latest bid to squeeze a ban on states regulating AI into an annual defense bill has reportedly been rejected after facing bipartisan pushback.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said Tuesday that Republican leaders would look for “other places” to include the measure – an effort that President Trump has supported – according to The Hill.
The proposal to preempt states from enacting their own AI regulation came months after GOP lawmakers sought to include a 10-year moratorium on state AI laws in Trump’s tax and spending bill earlier this year. The provision failed then due to strong resistance from both parties.
Silicon Valley has supported such measures, arguing that state regulations create an unworkable patchwork of rules that could stymy innovation.
Critics argue that most state AI legislation is focused on safety, transparency, and consumer protections, and in the absence of federal AI laws that perform those tasks, blocking states from regulating would be effectively handing over control to Big Tech with no oversight.
Scalise reportedly acknowledged that the defense bill was not the place to include such a provision, and echoed Trump’s previous calls to introduce the ban as a separate bill. A leaked draft executive order signals Trump is considering taking matters into his own hands, though those efforts have reportedly paused for now.
