Congress

Congress divided on permanent daylight saving time despite Trump endorsement

Published

1 year ago

April 30, 2025

The Senate Commerce Committee appeared poised Wednesday morning to narrowly advance a bill to make daylight saving time permanent — a sign that lawmakers are coalescing around ending the practice of changing clocks twice a year. But the panel still remains deeply divided over whether to embrace permanent daylight saving time or standard time.

“There are times when you have a hearing on a bill, and you’re trying to move forward with a bill, and you think there’s a clear right answer — this is not one of those times, at least for me,” said committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas). “The testimony we heard at the hearing … persuaded me that we should lock the clock, that the practice of springing forward and falling backward every year doesn’t make sense.”

Cruz went on to vote to advance the legislation from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), which would move to make daylight saving time the default, resulting in more daylight in the evening hours with less in the morning, and bring to a halt biannual clock adjustments. Cruz amended the bill beforehand to allow a two-year window for states to decide whether or not they want to use daylight saving time or standard time permanently.

President Donald Trump earlier this month endorsed daylight saving time following a hearing on the matter.

Ultimately, the 16-12 vote will have to be repeated at a later date when more senators are physically present: too many voted by proxy. The final tally, though, provided an important window into where lawmakers currently stand.

The vote breakdown on either side of the issue did not fall at all neatly along party lines. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas were among the Republicans who voted “no.” So did Democrats including Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — a member of her party’s leadership team — alongside Sens. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.

Meanwhile, Republicans joining Cruz in voting “yes” included Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Sens. John Curtis of Utah and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Democrats supporting moving forward with the bill included ranking member Maria Cantwell of Washington, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts — a longtime advocate of the proposal — and Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii — who is running to be the next Democratic whip.

There are “serious arguments on both sides” on whether to use daylight saving or standard time, Cruz said, citing witness testimony from the panel’s hearing this month about economic benefits for daylight saving time for golf courses and entertainment venues, while doctors argued more morning light with standard time can be better for health.

“Reasonable people can differ,” Cruz said, noting Texas is considering a referendum on the issue that he hopes will occur and making the case that states should have leeway to decide.

Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who opposed the bill Wednesday, proposed but quickly withdrew an amendment that would have renamed the bill the “Make America Rested Again Act” and made permanent standard time the law of the land. Permanent daylight saving time, he argued, would make the sun rise after 9 a.m. in some of parts of his state in the winter months. Young also said there should be more debate and analysis on whether to use permanent standard or daylight time.

“Moving to permanent standard time is widely recognized as the healthiest option for promoting better sleep, alertness and overall well-being,” Young said. “After surveying constituents across Indiana in recent weeks, it’s clear to me there is no single right way to approach the issue of time. Regional differences play an important factor in these decisions.”

The Commerce Committee hearing, followed quickly by Trump’s comments in favor of permanent daylight saving time, have reignited a lobbying battle, with golf and retail interests favoring daylight saving time and sleep doctors and Christian radio broadcasters favoring standard time.

The Senate in 2022 passed legislation to make daylight saving time the status quo by unanimous consent, a move that surprised some senators since the procedure is usually reserved for noncontroversial issues. It died in the House.

Congress

Trahan unveils AI liability discussion draft

Published

7 hours ago

October 7, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Lori Trahan on Wednesday unveiled a discussion draft for a bill that would make artificial intelligence developers liable when their products cause harm.

The legislation comes after OpenAI’s agents escaped containment and autonomously hacked into AI platform Hugging Face and accessed U.S. government websites.

The Clear Liability for Artificial Intelligence Misconduct Act aims to make it easier for those harmed by so-called rogue AI to bring claims against developers. Trahan’s bill does not preempt new state laws on AI liability — historically a prerequisite for attracting Republican support in the House.

“When someone breaks the law and hurts you, you can take them to court. That shouldn’t change just because the wrongdoer is an AI agent,” Trahan (D-Mass.) said in a statement. “Developers have already built systems capable of acting on their own and causing real damage. The CLAIM Act makes sure they answer for what their systems do.”

Legal experts have warned that existing laws require proof of intent or negligence, standards that can be difficult to show in court when AI models go rogue.

Trahan’s bill would ensure AI developers are unable to argue that their AI systems are incapable of intent. Instead, courts “would presume an AI system acted with the state of mind a person taking the same actions would have had.”

Trahan spokesperson Francis Grubar said work on the CLAIM Act began almost immediately after theJuly introduction of the FRONTIER Act, legislation with Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) that would grant the government power to restrict the deployment of AI models deemed to pose catastrophic risks. While that bill aims to prevent serious harms before they happen, Grubar said the CLAIM Act would address how to impose accountability for existing damages.

Unlike an AI liability proposal announced last week by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Trahan’s legislation would not amend the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Grubar said the CLAIM Act would instead impose clearer liability on a broader range of harms, as well as autonomous or AI-enabled cyberattacks.

The CFFA, an anti-hacking law that bars individuals from accessing a computer without consent, requires proof of intent to hack into a computer system, which can’t be as easily applied to AI agents.

The Hugging Face incident, along with a flurry of other disclosed hacking incidents by rogue AI agents from OpenAI and other AI developers, has sparked a debate over how companies should be held legally liable for their AI systems.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in an interview with Blue Light News’s Decoded podcast, said there should be a new “liability framework” to hold developers accountable for AI-powered cyberattacks. His comments come after White House officials like Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, who was recently appointed as AI czar by President Donald Trump, previously said that existing product liability laws are sufficient for now in addressing AI’s risks.

Congress

Vance to sit for CBS town hall in Michigan ahead of midterms

Published

7 hours ago

October 7, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Vice President JD Vance will take questions from Michigan voters in a CBS News town hall airing Oct. 17 as the Trump administration prepares a closing message to voters ahead of the midterms.

The town hall comes amid a blitz of campaign events for Vance and President Donald Trump as their party faces multiple headwinds that could cost them control of the House and Senate.

Michigan’s Senate contest between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers has become one of the cycle’s closely watched battleground contests. Michigan also has several competitive House races and will elect a new governor for the first time in eight years.

Vance campaigned in Michigan with Rogers, gubernatorial nominee John James and Mike Bouchard Jr., the GOP nominee in the 10th Congressional District, at an Aug. 31 rally in Sterling Heights. Rep. Lisa McClain also appeared at the event.

The one-hour special, moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil, will be recorded earlier in the week. Vance and Dokoupil will discuss issues facing voters, including affordability, tariffs, immigration, health care, artificial intelligence, the war with Iran and the state of American democracy, according to CBS News.

The two were scheduled for a town hall interview in March, but the vice president postponed due to the war with Iran.

The vice president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress

Top Commerce Committee Democrat releases AI framework

Published

8 hours ago

October 7, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee with vast jurisdiction over artificial intelligence policy, outlined six AI safety principles Wednesday morning — tenets she believes should underpin any legislation to stave off the greatest threats posed by the rapidly-evolving technology.

“To manage risks from advanced AI systems we need clear safety standards, continuous testing, and reporting of serious failures,” the Washington Democrat said in a statement. “America can lead the world in AI by building systems that are not only more capable, but safer and more secure.”

Cantwell’s framework would encompass six priority areas: enforceable safety standards for frontier models, continuous testing, disclosure and oversight, public-private partnerships, protection for children and workers and adherence to U.S.-led global standards.

To directly address risks posed by the technology, her framework would have federal experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other agencies establish clear federal rules to address harms, with specialized standards for open-source AI models to reduce risks of catastrophic misuse.

The senator is also recommending that the federal government provide developers with guidance on how to accelerate U.S. leadership on AI without sacrificing basic safety protocols.

On testing, Cantwell argues the government and independent experts should provide constant oversight and “continually scrutinize and stress test covered AI models,” particularly when sensitive information or secure facilities are involved.

She also says AI systems must have built-in safeguards to ensure they halt self-modification that could bypass safety controls. And she states that advanced models should not be released until they have undergone an independent, comprehensive audit — similar to outside auditors examining a company’s financial statements.

Cantwell, a former tech executive, has for years pursued similar priorities. But her new framework comes ahead of a midterm election that could return control of the Senate to Democrats, handing Cantwell back of the Commerce Committee gavel.

It also comes as lawmakers are under pressure to regulate the AI industry but are showing few signs that they will be able to reach consensus, across the aisle or even within their own party.

Senators had hoped for hearings, markups and briefings on AI legislation before leaving Washington until after the November elections, but little progress was made. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the current Commerce Committee chair, has continued to say he intends to hold a markup on AI-related bills but has punted multiple times, saying senators have yet to reach agreement on any bipartisan measure.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) have been trying to cut a deal on legislation to prevent and contain catastrophic risk from runaway AI technology, but bill text has so far failed to materialize.

Cantwell’s approach laid out Wednesday morning would be stricter and more comprehensive than what Thune and Klobuchar are expected to ultimately produce, based on similar legislation they have offered in the past.

Her approach of “constant oversight and vigilance” would also serve as a contrast to that of GOP leaders, who have consistently called for a “light touch” regulatory regime.