Congress
Vance talks midterms, not AI, in House GOP visit
Vice President JD Vance rallied House Republicans in a pre-midterm Capitol Hill visit Tuesday, encouraging members to support each other on the campaign trail and through fundraising.
He did not address the topic that has dominated conversations in Congress in recent days: the risk posed by artificial intelligence and what, if anything, lawmakers ought to do about it.
Instead, according to five people in the room granted anonymity to comment on the private meeting, the vice president urged Republicans in safe seats to help their vulnerable colleague and encouraged members to focus on the “choice” voters face with Democrats.
“I was kind of hoping there would be some conversation” on AI, one House Republican in the room said. “That did not come up at all.”
Another member present called it a “pretty typical rah-rah political speech,” while adding that Vance “projected perhaps a little bit more sunny optimism than is probably generally found within members’ hearts.”
“Very encouraging,” said Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.), describing the speech as he left the meeting. Vance, he said, told the room that Republicans are “on a good path, in a good spot right now from the messaging and the financing.”
Another member described it as a “great locker room speech.” Vance in particular attacked James Talarico, the Democratic nominee in the Texas Senate race, according to two of the people.
The conference meeting was also an opportunity for GOP members to play up their individual fundraising. Speaker Mike Johnson said at a news conference afterward that the NRCC yielded more than $20 million in transfers announced Monday morning, including $13 million from Johnson himself — bringing his total for the cycle over $100 million.
Several other members pledged money in the room, according to four people present — including $1 million from Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who is being closely watched for a possible future leadership run.
Johnson described the meeting as “a raucous party,” with members “crammed” in the room.
“The vice president got them all riled up this morning,” he said. “I did my best to do the same.”
Congress
Kash Patel: Trump administration working with Congress on legislation curbing ‘birth tourism’
FBI Director Kash Patel told senators Tuesday the Trump administration is working with Congress to draft new legislation that would crack down on women who come to the U.S. to give birth so their children will automatically become citizens.
“We are following the federal statutes that we have on the books right now, and we’re working with our partners in Congress to draft new legislation to give us new authorities to make sure that we can combat the threat,” Patel said during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing.
“We want the United States of America to be open for legal immigration, not for illegal immigration, and we’re going to continue to work to that end and work with our partners in Congress,” he continued. “We’ve asked them for more resources and legislation, and we need some bolstering in that capacity.”
Patel’s remarks were in response to a question from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who is among the Republican lawmakers who have introduced legislation in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down President Donald Trump’s bid to end automatic citizenship for all children born in the United States.
Her bill and others are unlikely to pass in the current Congress given the narrow GOP majority margins in both chambers and the constraints of Senate filibuster rules. But the collaboration between the administration and lawmakers on this issue is notable, showing the White House is continuing to explore opportunities to circumvent the Supreme Court’s verdict.
In the months since the decision, the president’s aides and allies have zeroed in on policy options for targeting “birth tourism,” including efforts to prosecute organizations and individuals involved in “birth tourism schemes” or women already in the country for fraud. Trump signed two executive orders on birthright citizenship last month, which included provisions targeting the practice.
Estimates of how many women might engage in “birth tourism” annually are uncertain, but U.S. Census data shows vastly fewer instances — 26,000 babies a year — than the administration’s estimate of more than 3.5 million yearly, according to the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute.
Trump allies have pushed to keep efforts to target birthright citizenship at the forefront in Republican legal and policy circles and have pressed lawmakers to introduce bills ranging from constitutional amendments to narrower measures — such as Blackburn’s — targeting “birth tourism.”
Conservative lawyers and immigration hawks argue that legislation is crucial as the Trump administration faces legal challenges: A federal judge in Maryland has blocked enforcement of Trump’s August order restricting birthright citizenship while litigation proceeds.
Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed fears of civilizational wipeout from artificial intelligence, comparing the recent alarms from inside AI labs to what he characterized as overblown warnings on the political left over climate change.
He invoked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) while defending President Donald Trump’s description of the AI alarms as a “HOAX.”
“When the president says ‘a hoax,’ what he’s referring to is, we’ve all seen this movie before,” Johnson said in response to a question about Trump’s remarks at a Tuesday news conference. “A catastrophe is created. The media gets spun up. Social media gets spun up. Everybody says we’re all … going to be dead in 10 years.”
He added: “You remember what AOC said — was it climate change? What was her stupid thing? She said, ‘We’re all going to be dead in 10 years’?”
“What the president is saying is you’re not all going to be dead in 10 years,” Johnson continued. “That’s a hoax.”
Johnson’s comment appears to refer to a comment Ocasio-Cortez made in 2019, shortly after entering the House, summarizing a UN report on climate change: “We’re, like, the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.”
The remarks come as Republicans are caught between warnings from AI executives and the president’s demand that AI stay unregulated lest Chinese researchers leapfrog U.S. companies. The speaker reiterated during the news conference that he is hoping to speak with top AI executives and the president in a meeting at the White House later this week.
The Republican cosponsor of bipartisan artificial intelligence safety legislation said he sat down with OpenAI’s top lobbyist a day before the company backed a key provision in the bill that’s struggled to gain traction on Capitol Hill.
“We talked about the urgent need for action,” Rep. Jay Obernolte of California told reporters of his Monday meeting with OpenAI chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane. “He was actually asking how he could be helpful. So, we’re trying to craft a path forward.”
Obernolte continued, “I told him that we all needed to get on the same page and push in the same direction, all pushing together. That’s the only way we’re going to be able to get something done this year.”
Obernolte has worked for months with Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) on a comprehensive package that would, among other things, enable third-party evaluators to examine AI models to ensure they comply with safety standards. Lehane told reporters Tuesday that OpenAI would support that specific provision.
It comes at a pivotal moment in the debate over what role Congress should play in regulating the AI industry after the CEOs of leading AI labs, including Sam Altman of OpenAI, issued warnings that without new guardrails the rapidly-evolving technology could do irreparable harm to humanity in the very near future.
Obernolte and Trahan’s work on an AI safety bill long preceded the current conversations happening in Washington, but both lawmakers are now making the case that their measure should be the starting point for legislative action.
Trahan told reporters Tuesday it was “good to hear” that a component of their bill now had OpenAI’s support, and said it was a sign the legislation was building the necessary coalitions of support after she and Obernolte consulted with a broad cross section of industry players to draft their package.
She also underscored the need for Congress to set parameters for AI use and development even as some Republicans, and President Donald Trump, insist the federal government should not interfere with private sector innovation.
While some AI companies, including Anthropic, have supported letting evaluators into their company to prod their models, Trahan said such agreements should be mandatory — not voluntary.
“It’s not just up to industry to decide, despite what the president might say,” she said from the sidelines of the Pro-Human Assembly, a gathering of high-profile speakers expounding on both the risks and opportunities of AI. “There are a whole lot of stakeholders who deserve a voice at the table.”
“Congress needs to take the next step,” Trahan added.
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