13 WHAM/ABC, July 2025
A provision preventing states from regulating artificial intelligence was struck down by senators during a marathon voting session as lawmakers weigh who will lay the guardrails for the rapidly advancing technology as they try to strike a balance between nurturing innovation and preventing harms. A plan to include a 10-year ban on state-level AI regulation that passed through the House with the backing of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was stripped from the bill early Tuesday morning in a 99-1 vote as the Senate tries to clear the bill through the chamber. Without the provision in President Donald Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill,” the future of AI regulation returns to a somewhat uncertain path with Congress struggling to clear any of its proposals and a patchwork of rules from state legislatures across the country.
The moratorium fell apart in the Senate after Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., withdrew her support for a compromise with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., to decrease the moratorium to five years from 10 and add new language specifying any current AI laws couldn’t pose an “undue or disproportionate burden” to AI companies amid backlash from consumer protection and child online safety groups. Blackburn has been a leading figure in the federal push to implement rules forcing tech companies to protect children online.
