As AI panic spreads among Americans, Congress is under the gun to act - USA Today
WASHINGTON – Panic is rapidly setting in among many Americans about the dangers of advanced artificial intelligence, and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are feeling intensifying pressure to take action to regulate the companies in charge of the emerging technology.
As the Senate returned Sept. 14 from a five-week recess, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded an immediate, all-senators classified briefing with Trump administration officials about their evolving plans for AI regulation.
"Warning bells are ringing louder than they ever have," the top Democrat said in a statement.
House Speaker Mike Johnson separately said he's planning to meet with top AI executives later this week or early next.
"It will be soon," he told reporters.
In the week since an Anthropic researcher dramatically resigned – warning publicly that rogue AI could one day wipe out humanity – lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been sounding dire alarm bells. As the field's top leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, have said they'd support more regulation on their own companies, both Democrats and Republicans have signaled a new openness about curbing AI development. Several bipartisan pieces of legislation have reemerged as potential action items.
But with the midterms fewer than two months away, members of Congress are contending with a limited schedule that is already complicating any prospects of a quick legislative intervention. The House of Representatives is only expected to be in session for a few days this week before departing Washington until November. The Senate, meanwhile, is expected to leave by Oct. 2 until after the elections, too.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump and Republican Speaker Johnson seemed bearish about the federal government stepping in dramatically. In a CNN interview, Johnson indicated that tech companies, not Congress, should lead AI safety efforts.
"If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose the race to China, and that is a threat to every single American," he said.
The president, meanwhile, dismissed concerns about AI and data centers as a "a SICK conspiracy," saying in a Sept. 14 social media post: "WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!"
The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on a bipartisan bill aimed at preventing Americans' energy bills from spiking because of nearby data centers, the infrastructure hubs that support AI models.
According to Speaker Johnson's office, Republicans plan to bring the Ratepayer Protection Act to the House floor "under suspension," a fast-tracked process that means leadership is confident the legislation can pass. The bill would require state utility regulators to consider rules to ensure that data centers "recover the full, incremental cost" of energy grid upgrades. The shift would help shield local ratepayers' monthly electricity bills from hikes, according to the lawmakers sponsoring the legislation.
The bill passed unanimously out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in July. At the time, Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Kentucky, the panel's chairman, touted it as a way to force data centers to "pay their own way."
The AI backlash debate is attracting voices across the political spectrum, with Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive from Vermont, as well as former Trump White House aide and MAGA stalwart Steve Bannon scheduled to speak at the same "pro-human" AI event on Sept. 15.
The discussion is billed as a forum for AI experts, lawmakers and advocates to "share concerns about the technology breaking outside of human control," according to Sanders' office.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, one of the most conservative lawmakers in DC, will also be there. So will two Texans on opposite sides of the political spectrum: Reps. Chip Roy, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, and Greg Casar, a Democrat and the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
