President Donald Trump is setting up a new loyalty test for the GOP on artificial intelligence, and House Republicans have to decide whether it’s an exam they want to pass.
On the one hand, their party’s standard-bearer posted multiple times on Truth Social Monday that warnings of the risks posed by rapidly-developing AI technology is a “HOAX” and urged Republicans not to fall behind China by regulating the industry.
On the other hand, the heads of the nation’s leading AI labs united over the weekend in petitioning Congress to put guardrails on AI development to prevent a human extinction-level catastrophe in a matter of years — a message that’s becoming difficult to ignore on Capitol Hill.
Speaker Mike Johnson, asked about the feedback he’s hearing from his members, said “there’s a lot of opinions on this.”
“We’ve been very consistent on this for a long, long time,” he told reporters. “Obviously, there’s a need for guardrails, but there’s also a keen need for the industry to self-regulate and self-monitor and report to us, and so we’re going to be talking about all that.”
But Johnson, who appears most focused right now on setting up a meeting at the White House in the coming days with tech executives, made clear Monday he’s not likely to move legislation before the midterms — and certainly not at the expense of keeping the House in session past this week.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise in an interview Monday evening explicitly backed Trump’s comments, adding that current law already addresses some of the major concerns about AI dangers.
“If some of these companies want to say that their products are dangerous, they need to go fix their products because that would be a violation of the law,” he argued. “At the end of the day, we’re in a major race with China, and China is moving forward. We need to make sure America wins this race for the future of the world, and do it in a responsible way.”
Vice President JD Vance will speak Tuesday morning to the House GOP Conference, where the administration’s position could become clearer on what it will or won’t accept. But House Republicans appear likely to remain caught between competing demands from Trump and the industry.
Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), a member of Energy and Commerce who has an AI safety package he crafted with Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), said “certainly there’s an urgent need to pass something.” He waved off worries that House GOP leaders aren’t taking the issue seriously, saying they were “well aware of the urgency” and “people are just being circumspect.”
“It’s like watching a duck swim across the calm surface of a lake, where above the water everything looks serene, and below the water level the ducks’ legs are furiously churning,” Obernolte continued. “I think that’s what’s happening.”
Obernolte also said AI legislation was discussed during the weekly GOP leadership meeting Monday afternoon.
But elsewhere, many House Republicans are making clear they aren’t interested in engaging on the issue. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer brushed off AI officials’ concerns last week during an interview at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas: “Not to be flippant, but back at Columbus’ time, they believed the world was flat.”
House Science, Space and Technology Chair Brian Babin said in an interview Monday he’s “with the president on this.”
“I don’t think that we need to slow down in the face of Chinese opposition,” the Texas Republican added. “We feel like there’s a lot of evidence out there that China is funding a propaganda campaign to keep data centers from being built. We might wind up playing right into their hands if we succumb to this kind of fear mongering.”
“Do you really trust the members of Congress who barely understand AI to write the regulations around something?” asked Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.).
Others made clear they are trying hard to toe the line. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), the chair of the Select Committee on China, said in an interview he agrees with Trump that Washington should not place undue restrictions on AI development to maintain a competitive edge over China, but “at the same time, we do have a responsibility for public safety.”
Ultimately, one big thing House Republicans are missing right now is a plan to coalesce around.
“There’s a lot of people out there now saying we need to address it this week, but they actually don’t have any solutions or any understanding of how to address the problem,” said Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee and member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over some AI policy.
Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie said that 20% of his panel’s hearings in this Congress have focused on AI, but the committee has yet to rally behind one AI safety bill. He said his members would work during the upcoming seven-week recess to see if they can finalize a proposal for lawmakers to consider in November.
“The speaker’s been saying all summer that we need to get people in the room and come up with proper guardrails,” the Kentucky Republican added. “We’re still trying to build what those guardrails are. So we have to figure it out.”
Obernolte said he is still pushing colleagues to support the bill he has crafted with Trahan, but members of both parties have given the measure a lukewarm reception. Democrats in particular are instead counting on supporting the policy recommendations from the Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries-convened AI commission.
It stands in contrast with the Senate. There, Majority Leader John Thune said Monday it’s “probably TBD” whether an AI bill can pass this year but he’s still been working to negotiate a version of a bipartisan AI safety bill with Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar. The leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee hopes to mark up AI-related legislation before the end of the month, which could include the Thune-Klobuchar measure.
Back in the House, Johnson called AI legislation “a very complex issue that requires a lot of work and bipartisan solutions,” adding that there is “a role potentially for Congress to play, but we have to do this with a balanced approach to ensure that we maintain our edge over China.”
Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) said he believed the House would be best suited to take up any AI safety bill after the midterms, arguing there are three “bad times” to make policy decisions: before an election, when members are not educated on the issue yet and when emotions are driving the decisions.
“In this moment, there’s a lot of fear,” Moran said. “So we need to get past the election before we can engage in serious policy discussions about AI.”
Gabby Miller, Riley Rogerson and Owen Dahlkamp contributed to this report.
Read the full article here