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Opposition To Proposed 10-year Ban On State AI Regs Growing More Intense On Capitol Hill

By  |  June 26, 2025

With Senate leadership hoping to start voting Friday on procedural steps to begin formally debate the Big Beautiful budget bill, opposition to a 10-year moratorium on state AI regulations is growing more intense within Republican ranks.

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    On Wednesday, three GOP senators, Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), and Rand Paul (Ky.) sent a letter to Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) asking leadership to drop the provision from the bill.

    The provision in the Senate bill is similar, but not identical, to a version passed by the House last month. Rather than an outright ban on states passing or enforcing laws to regulate AI, the Senate version, penned by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), would make states receiving money from a $42 billion broadband fund contingent on agreeing to “pause” enforcement of such laws.

    Several other senators apart from the three signatories on the letter are also hedging on support for the measure. Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) told Punchbowl News he is “torn” on the issue. Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) said he “fundamentally” doesn’t like the federal government imposing restrictions on states but said he hadn’t yet decided whether to support the measure.

    Some conservative representatives in the House have also expressed opposition to the moratorium, despite having voted in favor of the overall bill.

    Related: As Congress Considers a Ban On State AI Regs, California and NY Forge Ahead

    Thune told Axios, however, that he expects the provision to stay in the Senate bill in some form. “I think there’ll be some version of it in the bill, but… it’s possible, based on kind of the feedback we’re getting from members, that it might change in some way,” he said.

    The measure is broadly unpopular with the public. The conservative Institute for Family Studies on Wednesday released the results of a poll showing Americans oppose a moratorium on state AI laws by a 3:1 margin. Even among Trump voters twice as many oppose the ban as support it. A petition circulated by Moms Against Media Addition, Common Sense Media, Public Citizen, and other groups demanding Congress drop the measure had more than 60,000 signatures as of Monday.

    State lawmakers and attorneys general, including from Republican-run states, have also pressed Congress to drop the idea.

    Democrats in the Senate have also ramped up their criticism of the measure. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts plans to introduce an amendment to strip the provision from the bill when it comes to the floor. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington is also planning to introduce an amendment to drop the ban from the bill co-sponsored by Blackburn.