A major fight over legislation is happening within the Republican Party over a specific part of the “big, beautiful bill.”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has made it clear that she strongly opposes one particular part of the bill, and her opposition could put the entire package at risk. The main issue in this disagreement is a proposed 10-year pause on enforcing state and local laws related to artificial intelligence.
Politico reported that the Senate parliamentarian recently ruled that a 10-year pause on state and local artificial intelligence laws could be included in the Republican Party’s sweeping megabill. This decision came after both sides of the political debate presented their arguments.
Supporters of this pause argue that it is necessary to avoid a messy and confusing situation where every state and local government passes different AI laws. They say this would create a tangled web of regulations that could slow down innovation and make it harder to develop and use AI responsibly across the country, despite AI being a serious threat. The goal of this federal pause is to create a stable period where the federal government could eventually come up with a single, nationwide AI policy.
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Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz played a key role in making sure the pause was included in the bill. Knowing that the provision had to fit within the Senate’s strict budget rules, Cruz rewrote a version of the bill that had already passed the House. His new wording tied the enforcement of the pause to federal funding for expanding broadband internet.
Specifically, Cruz’s version said that states would have to agree to the 10-year pause on state and local AI laws if they wanted to receive billions in federal broadband money. This change was meant to give the pause a clear and significant impact on the budget, which would help it pass the parliamentarian’s review and stay in the final bill.
Just when you thought states could keep AI in check, the Senate says, "Nah, let's just wing it!" The Republican plan to block state regulations on AI just jumped a major hurdle. Prepare for chaos, folks! Dive into the details here: https://t.co/9Uodj0oWuQ
— Piotr Cieluchowski (@ThisGuyOfTheAI) June 22, 2025
Even though the parliamentarian allowed the pause and careful work was done to include it, the AI provision has faced strong pushback—surprisingly, from within the Republican Party itself. Several well-known conservative senators, including Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, have spoken out against it. These lawmakers, who often support states’ rights and limited federal power, are worried that a federal pause on AI laws takes away states’ ability to make their own rules on issues within their borders.
The resistance to the pause isn’t just in the Senate—it’s also strong in the House of Representatives, led by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Greene has gone as far as threatening to vote against the entire megabill if the 10-year pause on state AI laws stays in it.
