What the 119th Congress is Signaling on AI Policy

Congressional committees have been busy this Congress, and one of the key themes that committees across all jurisdictions are covering is the role of AI. At this point, there is bipartisan support for laws and regulations to enable the U.S. race to beat China. However, there are still more questions than answers on how legislation will best support this process.

Here are a few themes we have seen across the committee hearings this year:

Federal v. State Regulation: The House’s reconciliation bill included a 10‑year moratorium on state-level AI regulation, sparking fierce debate. We anticipate that this timeline will be reduced in the Senate version and have already seen these conversations play out during committee hearings.

Energy & Infrastructure: Electricity demands from data centers are a top concern for tech companies and a unified ask has been for Congress to advance permitting reform. Lawmakers from both parties flagged the need to accelerate permitting, streamline grid interconnection, and build new energy infrastructure.

Privacy & Moderation Oversight: Congressional committees, particularly Energy & Commerce Committee and Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, are intensely focused on AI’s impacts on privacy, censorship, and bias. Committees have looked at everything from AI’s role in scams to cybersecurity vulnerabilities. This will continue to be a push and pull between how much to regulate versus encourage innovation.

This is only the beginning and these conversations are only expected to evolve as lawmakers get smarter on AI and see the impacts firsthand in their states and districts.