Cruz Expects Swift 'Byrd Bath' on AI Moratorium; Blackburn and Hawley Opposed

The Senate parliamentarian can exclude budget package provisions if they're deemed extraneous under the Byrd rule.

Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told us they’re opposed to the potential moratorium. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., on the floor Tuesday, said he plans to raise a point of order if Republicans keep the moratorium language in the upper chamber’s budget package. Cruz said the Senate Commerce Committee will release its budget bill text this week.

“I think it’s terrific policy,” Cruz said. “It’s something I have vocally advocated. It will surely be challenged under the Byrd rule, and it’s not clear it would survive that challenge in the Senate or not. ... I think we’ll start to see the Byrd bath as soon as next week, and that process I expect to play out next week and the week after.”

A bipartisan group of more than 250 lawmakers representing all 50 states asked Congress to reject the proposal in a letter Tuesday. South Carolina Rep. Brandon Guffey (R) and South Dakota Sen. Liz Larson (D) led the group of 260 lawmakers, nearly evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. “Given the long absence of federal action to address privacy and social media harms, barring all state and local AI laws until Congress acts threatens to set back policymaking and undermine existing enforcement on these issues,” they wrote.

The group included five legislators from Tennessee and four from Missouri. “States like Tennessee are going to need the ability to implement their laws, so we’re going to see what we can do about that,” Blackburn told us Tuesday. “Of course, I’m opposed.”

Hawley, who has argued in favor of state rights, said he’s “completely against” the proposed moratorium. If Republicans want to vote on the budget package before the end of June, the chamber will need to “move fast” on the Byrd bath and other procedural matters, he said: “Hopefully we can kill [the moratorium provision].”

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who supports the moratorium, told us he’s “not confident” the language will survive the Byrd bath. Budget provisions have to be “focused on budget and not on policy, and we will support the Byrd rule in this particular case. If the parliamentarian says it doesn’t fit, then it doesn’t fit, but I would hope that it would.”

The U.S. needs federal preemption on AI, data privacy and data security, said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. “AI doesn’t stop at a county or a state line,” so industry and the federal government should decide best practices and ethical guidelines, he said.

If the provision survives the Byrd bath and Markey raises a point of order, it could trigger a series of votes leading to a floor vote on the provision itself. “When my Republican colleagues are ready to have a serious conversation about AI regulation, my door is open,” Markey said Tuesday. “But this backdoor AI moratorium is not serious. It’s not responsible. And it’s not acceptable.”