Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has asked Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to rewrite the controversial artificial intelligence (AI) provision in President Trump’s tax package, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told reporters Thursday.
Cruz and Cantwell (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, met with the Senate parliamentarian Wednesday night, a source familiar with the conversations confirmed. During this conversation, the parliamentarian expressed concerns the provision may violate the Senate’s reconciliation procedural rules, Cantwell said.
When asked whether Cruz is being asked to rewrite it, Cantwell told Politico, “That’s what was the last night request from, I think, from the Parliamentarian. Or, well, I mean, I don’t know what they said, but yeah, that’s what’s going on.”
Under its current language, the provision bans states from regulating AI models and systems if they want access to $500 million in AI infrastructure and deployment in federal funding.
Senate Commerce Republicans said the current language, which narrowed a previous version this week, “makes clear the optional $500 million state AI program would not affect participating states’ tech-neutral laws, such as those for consumer protection and intellectual property rights.
But Democrats argue the bill would still impact $42 billion in broadband funding and not comply with the Senate’s Byrd Rule, which prohibits provisions from making drastic policy changes.
Cantwell told reporters she does not have a timeline for when the provision could be rewritten.
The parliamentarian’s request comes just days after she first approved the provision last weekend.
Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process to advance Trump’s legislative agenda while averting the Senate filibuster. To do this, the Senate parliamentarian’s approval of the provisions is needed for a simple majority vote.
When reached for comment, Cruz’s communications director Macarena Martinez said the office would not comment on “private consolations with the parliamentarian.”
“The Democrats would be wise not to use this process to wishcast in public,” Martinez told The Hill.
Despite the previous changes to the language, the provision is expected to receive pushback from a handful of Republicans.
Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.) told The Hill they are against the provision, while Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said he is willing to introduce an amendment to eliminate the provision during the Senate’s marathon vote-a-rama if it is not taken out earlier.
Some Republicans in the House are also coming out against the measure as a way to advocate for states’ rights.
A group of hard-line conservatives argued in a letter earlier this month to Senate Republicans that Congress is still “actively investigating” AI and “does not fully understand the implications” of the technology.
This was shortly after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) confirmed she would be a “no” on the bill if it comes back to the House with the provision included.
“I am 100 percent opposed, and I will not vote for any bill that destroys federalism and takes away states’ rights, ability to regulate and make laws when it regards humans and AI,” she told reporters earlier this month.
It has also received criticism from some Republican state leaders, like Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who warned in a Washington Post op-ed that the measure “would have unintended consequences and threatens to undo all the great work states” have done for AI protections.
