Senate Commerce Republicans’ decision to tie a moratorium on state and local regulation of artificial intelligence to the federal broadband expansion program is raising new questions as Republicans push to pass their sweeping budget reconciliation bill in the coming days.
The provision, which was included in reconciliation text that the committee released Thursday, drops the 10-year moratorium on state and local regulation of AI that was in the House-passed reconciliation bill. Instead, the new language would provide $500 million in fiscal 2025 toward the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program for AI infrastructure that would condition eligibility on the pausing of any state or local regulations.
Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz said Thursday that the proposal would head to the Senate parliamentarian next week, according to Politico. But GOP opposition is already starting to brew: A spokesperson for Sen. Josh Hawley, the Missouri Republican who was an opponent of the House AI moratorium, confirmed a Punchbowl report that he is planning to draft an amendment with Democrats that would get rid of the revised language and force a vote during an impending Senate “vote-a-rama” if the provision isn’t removed by the time the bill hits the floor.
The move comes after the House-passed provision was the subject of skepticism about whether it would fly when faced with the chamber’s Byrd rule, which bars the inclusion of “nonbudgetary” items in the reconciliation process. A Commerce committee aide said in a Thursday briefing that the change was prompted by the Byrd rule.
The committee aide also said the provision would also apply to unobligated BEAD funding. The program, which was funded in the 2021 infrastructure law to the tune of more than $42 billion, is focused on expanding high-speed internet access.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said in December 2024 that all BEAD funds had been obligated. According to the NTIA’s BEAD Progress Dashboard, which was last updated on Tuesday, 56 states and territories have gotten their initial proposals approved and concluded a process to confirm locations that would be eligible for BEAD funding.
The Commerce Department on Friday announced changes to the BEAD program, however, including one that it said would make the program “technology neutral,” according to an NTIA fact sheet. That would reverse a priority under the program for end-to-end fiber optic connections, which the announcement said “relegated other capable technologies, including terrestrial wireless and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite services” to a “third-tier status.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said in a statement Friday that she will block expedited confirmation of Commerce nominees whose roles are related to broadband because of those changes and the resultant delay in BEAD funding distribution.
The move by Cruz also drew criticism from progressive consumer rights nonprofit Public Citizen.
“Republicans would rather give Big Tech a 10-year hall pass to experiment on the American people unchecked, rather than give underserved rural and urban communities the ability to compete in the digital economy,” J.B. Branch, Big Tech accountability advocate at Public Citizen, said in a Friday statement. “Congress must reject this corporate giveaway and refocus their energy on representing the public interest.”
Valerie Yurk contributed to this report.
The post Revamped Senate AI provision faces quick opposition appeared first on Roll Call.
