Congress

Blue Light News Republican who could get a deal on AI — if his leadership lets him

Published

9 months ago

February 5, 2026

Tech companies desperately want Congress to pass a federal law this year blocking state rules on artificial intelligence, and many think their best shot lies with California Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte, a former computer engineer now serving his third term in the House.

There’s just one problem: House GOP leaders don’t appear to be listening to him.

AI industry lobbyists have been pushing Capitol Hill for months to pass a bill that would preempt the ability of states to enact AI laws, arguing it would stop a patchwork of conflicting state rules from impeding innovation.

Many see Obernolte, who co-chaired a bipartisan AI task force last Congress and has deep relationships across the aisle, as their greatest hope for action before the end of the year. They say his technical acumen and consensus-building approach on AI will be key to clinching an agreement with Democrats, necessary in a politically polarized Washington.

“If there is anyone in the House who can run point and cobble together the pieces on what meaningful federal AI standards and an AI package could look like, it’s Jay Obernolte,” said Tony Samp, principal AI adviser at lobbying firm DLA Piper, in an interview.

Obernolte is currently working on an AI bill that could pair preemption of state AI laws with a framework to regulate the technology, including new research infrastructure and safety checks on advanced AI models — a compromise that senior AI lobbyists now support after Hill Republicans failed twice last year to unilaterally block state AI regulations.

“You need to codify the federal regulatory framework for AI and, if you don’t do that … essentially you’re saying that there’s no regulation,” said Obernolte in a recent interview. “And I don’t blame people for being uncomfortable with that.”

But four senior tech industry representatives who want a deal, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive legislative talks, said Obernolte’s influence has so far been stifled by GOP leadership, and that he’s been largely absent from high-level Hill negotiations over the future of AI policy.

It’s a sign, they said, that Republican leaders may not be serious about reaching an AI compromise, despite President Donald Trump’s recent call for Congress to come up with a solution to thwart states from freelancing. Both the tech industry representatives and some Democrats instead worry that GOP leaders are refusing to budge on their stance that there should be minimal regulation of the technology — a position shared by some venture capitalists and White House officials.

House GOP leaders publicly insist they’re on the same page with Obernolte and share his goal of drafting consensus legislation that would preempt state AI laws, even as they have so far failed to embrace his ideas and, in fact, appear determined to pursue other tracks.

A spokesperson for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said that while the Louisiana Republican supports a relatively hands-off approach to AI regulation, “preempting a patchwork of countless varying state laws does not mean no guardrails.”

Nonetheless, Scalise recently expressed skepticism towards any regulations on the sector — a stance that could make a political compromise on AI harder to achieve.

“A lot of these people that want to limit and regulate any industry, a lot of times, what they’re really trying to do is make it hard to do those things in America,” Scalise told reporters in early January. “We should maintain that edge, and we do it by innovating — not by regulating.”

The four tech representatives said they’ve so far seen little to suggest that leadership is interested in Obernolte’s plan for an AI accord. They said he should have been brought into the preemption effort last year, after Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) fell short in his efforts to insert a ban on state AI rules into the GOP’s tax and spending megabill.

They also said Obernolte’s absence from last fall’s unsuccessful push by House leadership to insert a similar provision into the year-end defense bill was unfortunate, largely because it made a compromise tougher to achieve.

“It was a little surprising that one of their best players wasn’t even in the game during the latest push for federal AI standards,” said Samp.

Connor Chapinski, Obernolte’s communications director, downplayed the characterization that Obernolte is being kept away from the GOP’s high-level AI strategy. In a statement, he said Obernolte remains fully engaged with his leadership and the Trump administration around crafting “thoughtful legislation.”

Athina Lawson, a spokesperson for Speaker Mike Johnson, in a statement credited Obernolte’s chairmanship of the task force with giving members “a clearer understanding of how to responsibly leverage the opportunities of artificial intelligence.” She said GOP leadership is coordinating with the Trump administration on AI and plans to “work through committees of jurisdiction to build consensus” among Republicans.

The task force’s 255-page report — released by Obernolte and fellow California Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat, in December 2024 — laid out a slew of findings and policy recommendations related to AI. Yet despite some interest from the tech industry, the panel was not renewed by GOP leadership and its recommendations have gone virtually unheeded.

One senior GOP aide who works on AI policy, granted anonymity to discuss internal GOP strategy, said the report was produced under former President Joe Biden and was “somewhat outdated now that we have a new administration, a new dynamic in Congress.”

A senior Democratic aide who was closely involved with the task force, also granted anonymity to speak candidly, said it has become clear over a period of time that “Mr. Obernolte, for better or worse, had been sort of sidelined … He was like their lead guy on AI, put in a corner.”

Some Democrats are now looking to exploit what they perceive as a leadership gap on AI policy on the other side of the aisle. Lieu now co-chairs a new House Democratic Commission on AI, convened by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) and co-chaired by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.) and Valerie Foushee (N.C.). In the absence of bipartisan action, they plan to formulate their own plan for regulating the fast-moving technology.

“The White House has led the industry astray, down a bad path,” Lieu said in an interview. “Steve Scalise is very opposed to any kind of legislation at the federal level. … And that’s now resulted in three things the tech industry wanted to avoid, which is, backlash from the public, backlash from bipartisan members of Congress and multiple states regulating their industry.”

Gottheimer, in a recent interview, said, “I think Republicans have certainly ceded the turf.”

There are signs that GOP leaders are starting to feel pressure to legislate on AI. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan — chair of the Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over AI issues like privacy, surveillance and intellectual property — suggested in a Monday interview that “I don’t know about moving anything, but we’re definitely talking about AI.”

Jordan added that one of his staffers had just informed him that his panel should ramp up those discussions.

Gabby Miller contributed to this report.

Congress

Pete Aguilar announces run for whip

Published

12 minutes ago

November 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar has formally announced his bid for House majority whip.

“With a Democratic majority, we’ll have the tools to rein in this out-of-control administration and investigate the agencies, officials and corporations that have been making life harder and more expensive for our communities,” the California Democrat wrote in a letter to colleagues Thursday. “I look forward to working with each of you to deliver on our affordability agenda.”

Aguilar is currently unopposed for the No. 3 slot in the new House Democratic majority.

As whip, Aguilar will have to stitch together an ideologically diverse caucus that could be as large as 260 members. With such a significant margin, Aguilar would have more cushion to lose votes on key legislation than Republican leaders, who have struggled to wrangle their members on party-line bills over the last two years.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts have already announced their candidacies for speaker and majority leader, respectively. They also have no challengers at this time.

Congress

Top House Republican: Trump ‘unfavorability’ led to losses

Published

27 minutes ago

November 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. French Hill, a senior Republican who barely won reelection in Little Rock this week, said President Donald Trump’s “unfavorability” is to blame for sweeping GOP losses.

The Associated Press called the race for Hill on Thursday after the six-term lawmaker and House Financial Services Committee chair faced off against Democrat Chris Jones. Hill won by less than 2 percentage points.

“President Trump’s unfavorability had a lot of impact on races across the country,” Hill said in an interview. “I think that’s evident by some of the exit polling. We had, in my judgment, recruited good candidates who had good funding for their campaigns. But it was a wave election, and we lost a lot of really good, constructive members of the House.”

It was the closest race yet for Hill, who struggled to win even as he outspent Jones, a former Arkansas gubernatorial candidate, 3 to 1. As House Financial Services chair, Hill has been instrumental the last two years in enacting bipartisan housing and cryptocurrency legislation.

During the campaign, Hill was willing to distance himself from Trump, especially when it came to touting the housing bill that the president refused to sign.

In the interview Wednesday, Hill suggested that Republicans could break further with Trump during the final two years of his term.

“He will be considered a lame duck, and that often has members of both political parties looking out at who will be the standard-bearers in the 2028 presidential election,” he said. “So, I think certainly that will influence policymaking and politics inside the House and Senate.”

Congress

Katherine Clark launches majority leader bid

Published

3 hours ago

November 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts officially announced her bid for majority leader in a letter to colleagues Thursday.

Clark, currently the No. 2 to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, is widely considered a shoo-in among her colleagues. She is currently unopposed, and if she wins, she would be the first woman with the title and most progressive member of the top leadership trio that is also expected to include Jeffries as speaker and Rep. Pete Aguilar as whip.

In line with leadership’s campaign message, Clark emphasized “Affordability, Affordability, Affordability” in her pitch to the caucus. Specifically, she named “ending the reckless war in Iran, rescinding Trump’s tariffs, reversing Republicans’ catastrophic cuts to healthcare and food assistance, curing off their giveaways to the Epstein Class, and pursuing rigorous oversight of this corrupt administration.”

To wrangle House Democrats’ massive majority — which is tracking to reach over 255 seats — Clark vowed to members: “At every decision point, I intend to work closely with you to understand the needs of your district and maximize your ability to deliver for your constituents.”

“Democrats will succeed by working as a team.” she added.

Clark will get a vote during House Democratic leadership elections scheduled for Nov. 18 and 19.