Congress
Capitol agenda: Trump’s AI demands jam Republicans
Republicans are jammed between warnings of existential risk from the AI industry and the demands of their party leaders.
Vice President JD Vance will speak Tuesday morning to the House GOP Conference, where the Trump administration’s position could become clearer on what it will or won’t accept for any guardrails for the fast-moving technology.
And Senate Republicans are expected to discuss AI policy during a weekly closed-door lunch Tuesday — their first in-person meeting since initial warnings from an industry researcher that AI could destroy humanity.
But the meetings may also spotlight the mismatch between the growing sense of urgency among some rank-and-file Republicans and President Donald Trump’s stark demands against any regulation. Trump Monday called the alleged dangers posed by the tech a “HOAX.”
Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune moved carefully Monday, saying there is potentially a role for Congress to put guardrails on the technology while also expressing concerns about stifling innovation amid an AI arms race with China.
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. A number of other GOP members who spoke with Blue Light News also made clear they aren’t interested in engaging on the issue.
But some members on both sides are antsy for more urgency.
Sen. John Kennedy will push for passage Wednesday through unanimous consent on a bill that would require companies to build a “kill switch” into their artificial intelligence models, he told reporters Monday.
Rep. Jay Obernolte, who has an AI safety package he crafted with Rep. Lori Trahan, said “there’s an urgent need to pass something” and that he’s still pressing his colleagues to support his bill. It’s gotten a lukewarm reception from both parties, however.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries Monday delivered his most urgent call to date for guardrails on AI models.
“It’s very real, despite what Donald Trump has to say about that issue as well, and it requires decisive congressional action immediately,” Jeffries said at a press conference, calling on Johnson to keep lawmakers in session.
But the House is only in town until the end of the week and Johnson made clear Monday he’s not likely to move legislation before the midterms — certainly not at the expense of keeping the chamber in session past this week.
Thune, for his part, is locked in negotiations in his chamber with Sen. Amy Klobuchar over a bipartisan AI safety bill he introduced a version of in 2023.
But the majority leader said Monday Klobuchar was “reluctant to move forward” with a revised bill without more Democratic support. In a brief interview Monday, Klobuchar said she’s working to strengthen the proposal.
“It’s probably TBD” if an AI bill could pass by the end of the year, Thune told reporters Monday.
What else we’re watching:
— CRYPTO SHOWDOWN IN SENATE — A landmark effort to incorporate cryptocurrency into the architecture of U.S. financial regulation is poised for a dramatic showdown Tuesday on the Senate floor. This afternoon’s procedural vote outcome remains up in the air, setting the stage for an eleventh-hour scramble for the two parties to strike a deal that would unlock the bipartisan support necessary to advance the bill. Democrats emerged from a meeting in Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office Monday evening saying they planned to send Republicans a counteroffer covering outstanding issues, including on ethics provisions they’re pushing to more aggressively rein in Trump’s family businesses.
— PROGRESSIVES PAN DATA CENTER BILL — Some House progressives are withholding support for a bipartisan proposal to regulate data center electricity costs, the first signs of any opposition to the bill from members of Congress. Top progressives told Blue Light News they are undecided about supporting the Ratepayer Protection Act when it comes to the House floor Tuesday, saying they think the measure doesn’t go far enough. Though they might not have the numbers to tank the bill in the House, their opposition could muddy the bill’s path to passage in the Senate and delay it becoming law.
Mia McCarthy, Jordain Carney, Kelsey Brugger, Jasper Goodman, Amelia Davidson and Nico Portuondo contributed to this report.
Sen. Ron Johnson is sending a letter Monday requesting a conference meeting to discuss the midterm results and a delay in the leadership election.
Johnson has gathered enough signatures to force the meeting under the Senate GOP’s rules and is proposing the gathering for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
“Tuesday’s result was a stunning defeat,” Johnson and his backers write in the letter to Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO. “Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice”
Republicans still expect their leadership election to be held Tuesday, where Majority Leader John Thune is so far unopposed to lead the party next year in the minority.
Sen. Chris Murphy announced Friday that he has been released from the hospital after suffering a stroke last week, but will miss “several weeks” of Senate votes while he continues to recover.
“The doctors are very encouraged by the progress I’ve made so far,” the Connecticut Democrat said in a statement. “In order to take my recovery seriously and get back to work on the quickest timeline possible, I will be spending several weeks at a rehabilitation center after being discharged from the hospital today.”
He added that he remains in touch remotely with his staff and colleagues.
Murphy, who was hospitalized last weekend, said Friday that he was “diagnosed with a small bleed in the thalamus region of my brain.” Jose Suarez, the Chief of Neurosciences Critical Care at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, said in a separate statement released by Murphy’s office that the senator “experienced a small hemorrhagic stroke.”
“He has shown tremendous progress, and at the current rate of improvement, we expect that he will make a full recovery following rehabilitation,” Suarez added.
Murphy is the latest senator to suffer a stroke in recent years. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) were both hospitalized for strokes in 2022. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), at that time a Senate candidate, also had a stroke in 2022 that he later described as near fatal.
The head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said his group will still be power brokers in a massive Democratic majority in a strategy memo previewing plans for next term.
“While some in the press have speculated that a majority of this size undermines our influence within the caucus, they have it exactly backwards,” Rep. Greg Casar of Texas said in the Friday memo obtained by Blue Light News. “Big majorities are good for getting big things done. Our goal is not to win a battle against other Democratic caucuses. It is to pass longstanding progressive priorities that bring down costs, root out corruption, and boost wages.”
The CPC will have at least 105 members next term, according to the memo. If Democrats had a narrow majority, progressives — and any other faction in the caucus — could have used their votes as leverage. Now that presumptive speaker Hakeem Jeffries will have as many 30 votes to spare, Democrats broadly are recalibrating their approach next term.
Casar laid out a “three-pronged” strategy for the CPC to “wield our power” in the three-page memo — tackling legislation, oversight and “holding Donald Trump to his word on populist economic policies.”
“Small majorities give corporate special interest groups the ability to block popular populist policies by recruiting a small number of opponents; a big majority gives us the advantage,” he said.
Casar previewed how the CPC can engage with Trump, noting that “one of the few bright spots for bipartisan lawmaking” was a housing bill that banned private equity firms from buying homes. He noted the caucus should push Trump to cap credit card interest rates, lower credit card fees for small businesses and lower prescription drug costs.
“While we oppose [Trump] strongly on the vast majority of fronts, we should send bills to his desk that would lower prices and raise paychecks. If he signs them, good. If he vetoes those bills, that will propel us to a continued Democratic majority and a trifecta where a Democratic president can sign these proposals into law,” he said.
Casar also outlined oversight targets beyond the administration, urging Democrats to specifically investigate corporations that use customer data for “surveillance pricing,” health care companies that are “taking advantage of seniors” through the Medicare Advantage program and artificial intelligence labs who are “putting jobs and lives at risk.”
“By focusing not just on the Trump administration but also on big corporations and billionaires, we will show the American people we are not just anti-Trump but also pro-worker and pro-consumer,” he said.
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