Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Tuesday that a provision seeking to bar states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) is “not at all dead,” despite being stripped from President Trump’s tax and spending bill earlier this year.
“It’s not at all dead,” he told Politico’s Rachel Bade, adding, “In the course of that bill, I was privileged as chairman of the Commerce Committee to write major portions of that bill. And I gotta say, we won virtually every battle. We had about 20 battles, and I think we won 19. So I feel pretty good.”
Cruz pushed to keep the AI moratorium, which sought to restrict states from regulating the technology for 10 years, in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
However, he was ultimately among the 99 senators who voted to strip the measure from the legislation after a deal with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) fell apart. Their short-lived agreement reduced the moratorium to five years and featured some exceptions for kids’ online safety and publicity rights.
Despite initially clearing the House, the provision was also facing vocal pushback from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who threatened to withhold her vote for the legislation if the AI moratorium remained.
Cruz introduced new AI legislation last week, known as the SANDBOX Act, which would allow companies to apply for waivers for regulations that they argue impede their ability to experiment with the technology.
The bill comes as part of a broader AI framework put forward by the Senate Commerce chair, who argues his proposal could “turbocharge economic activity, cut through bureaucratic red tape, and empower American AI developers while protecting human flourishing.”
