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\n

Few lawmakers have as much influence over the fate of artificial intelligence legislation as Sen. Ted Cruz, but he’s keeping people guessing about how he\u2019ll use that power.<\/p>\n

As chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, the Texas Republican has pledged to convene members to vote on bills that would regulate the AI industry. He asked GOP members of the panel several weeks ago to submit their proposals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis markup is designed to move legislation that has a real chance of passing into law,\u201d Cruz said in an interview this week, adding that he was vetting bills depending on \u201cwhat bipartisan agreement and consensus can be reached.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz\u2019s aides, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the senator believes the federal government should take \u201ctargeted\u201d action in \u201ctruly novel circumstances\u201d where existing laws are silent \u2014 such as catastrophic risk, deepfakes and chatbots.<\/p>\n

But they also concede that GOP committee staff is still reviewing dozens of existing bills, and what measures will make the cut for the scheduled late July markup remain in flux. Senators on the panel also say they haven\u2019t heard from Cruz about his criteria for what AI legislation to put on the agenda.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s bringing real uncertainty to what Congress might accomplish on the high-stakes issue this year. It also underscores how Cruz, a one-time presidential candidate who could run again in 2028, is attempting to carefully navigate one of the most politically divisive policy debates of the midterms.<\/p>\n

Cruz has even avoided saying whether he’ll allow the committee to vote on an emerging deal between Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and the White House that would bundle a kids\u2019 online safety package with preemptions of specific state laws.<\/p>\n

He said this week he \u201cfully expects\u201d that Blackburn\u2019s bill, known as the Kids Online Safety Act, “will be on the next markup as a part of the package addressing AI and children’s safety.\u201d But he declined to say whether he\u2019ll bring up any revised bill text Blackburn brokers with the blessing of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

A Blackburn spokesperson did not return requests for comment Wednesday, nor did the White House.<\/p>\n

The outlook for how Cruz plans to legislate around AI is further clouded by his own record on the issue.<\/p>\n

Back in 2024, Cruz was warning against broad regulation of AI, saying that \u201cBig Tech and the Radical Left\u201d<\/u><\/a> were poised to empower the administrative state, kill innovation and cause the U.S. to lose the AI race with China. He pursued efforts to undercut a Biden administration executive order that took a more hands-on approach to regulating the industry.<\/p>\n

As Cruz was preparing to take the gavel in the waning days of the Democratic majority, then-Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell of Washington accused him of opposing the inclusion of seven AI bills in a year-end government funding package \u2014 even though those bills had been advanced by the committee on a bipartisan basis.<\/p>\n

Cruz\u2019s aides disputed this characterization, saying there was no single lawmaker holding up the bills in late 2024 and House GOP leaders had issues, too. Cantwell, now the committee’s senior Democrat, said in an interview Wednesday the measures \u201cwould have helped us in regulating some of the biggest national security concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added she\u2019s now \u201ctrying to read the tea leaves\u201d about what Cruz has planned for the upcoming markup. At least one Republican said he thinks Cruz has undergone a \u201cvery significant pivot\u201d when it comes to engagement and interest around AI that could offer some clues.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe originally had the position that we didn’t need to adopt any AI legislation whatsoever \u2014 that we should just allow the market to work,\u201d Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.), a member of the committee who is heavily involved in AI policy, said in an interview. \u201cMy sense is he has adopted a different position now, and I’m gratified by that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what accounts for the shift, Young said, \u201cyou\u2019ll have to ask him why he’s become more inclined to legislate in this space.\u201d But he acknowledged that \u201cmany people are coming to recognize\u201d that it would be a mistake to allow the rapidly evolving technology to go unchecked.<\/p>\n

Cruz\u2019s aides disagreed with Young\u2019s characterization. They note Cruz championed a measure making it a crime to publish nonconsensual sexual images \u2014 including AI-generated content \u2014 which was signed into law last year with support from first lady Melania Trump. Cruz is also pushing legislation that would regulate chatbots, or online apps that mimic human conversation and can pose harm for children.<\/p>\n

His aides also said Cruz continues to believe too much federal government intervention into AI policy could threaten innovation and stifle freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

Adam Thierer, a resident senior fellow at the right-leaning R Street Institute, said Republicans at the start of the Trump administration seemed to be waiting for cues from the White House before taking a firm position. That has changed as the White House scrambles to enact its own rules governing AI while urging Congress to codify a federal regulatory framework.<\/p>\n

Cruz tried, and failed, to include a provision in the GOP\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer that would have enacted a 10-year moratorium on the ability of states to set their own AI laws. Yet in just one year, Thierer said, the political landscape has transformed, and now preempting state AI laws is basically a nonstarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite a reversal,\u201d Thierer said. \u201cEven limited preemption has become extraordinarily toxic because a whole bunch of people have come to believe what states are doing benefits them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last fall, Cruz released an AI policy framework that aligned with Trump\u2019s AI action plan, which laid out a \u201clight-touch\u201d regulatory strategy; Cruz\u2019s aides suggested the senator plans to build on this blueprint. In December, Cruz was standing beside Trump for the signing of an executive order that would empower the federal government to evaluate and challenge state AI laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they have a heightened sense of urgency, which is understandable because it has become increasingly urgent, and one of the major questions is whether Congress can keep pace with the accelerating rate of change in AI,\u201d said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) of Republicans.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Cruz is facing tough choices about what bills to advance.<\/p>\n

Cantwell said Wednesday she wants to see the seven bills that passed out of committee when she was chair, which she accused Cruz of undermining, taken up again next month. And a refusal to facilitate consideration of a potential Blackburn-White House agreement could put Cruz at odds with the president.<\/p>\n

Cruz also could end up alienating colleagues whose support he needs on other legislative priorities in the coming months \u2014 including a major bill to overhaul the college sports industry.<\/p>\n

Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), a member of the Commerce Committee who has his own bill targeting chatbots that would go further than Cruz\u2019s proposal, in an interview expressed some sympathy for the chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, it’s a tough topic, right? There’s not a lot of consensus, and so anything that he can do to even further the conversation, I welcome,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we need to be having these conversations. I think we need to be having the hearings. Until we do, we won’t get to the right answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few lawmakers have as much influence over the fate of artificial intelligence legislation as Sen. Ted Cruz, but he’s keeping people guessing about how he\u2019ll use that power. As chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, the Texas Republican has pledged to convene members to vote on bills that would regulate the AI industry. He asked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}