Issue One responds to bipartisan Senate vote to strike down 10-year AI moratorium

In response to an overwhelmingly bipartisan 99-1 vote in the Senate to strike the 10-year AI moratorium in the reconciliation package (H.R.1), Issue One Vice President of Advocacy Alix Fraser issued the following statement:

“Ninety-nine senators were on the right side of history this morning when they voted to strike the AI moratorium from the reconciliation package. This dangerous provision would have toppled hundreds of bipartisan state laws that protect young people from child sexual abuse material, the elderly from targeted scams, political candidates from harmful deepfakes, Americans from data privacy breaches, and much more.

“We are thankful for the leadership of Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Maria Cantwell (D-IN), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Ed Markey (D-MA) who stood up to the tech lobby and filed the critical bipartisan amendment that defeated the AI moratorium.

“Over the next few days, Big Tech will try to push back against this victory. They will try to pad the pockets of every politician, and pull every lever in their power to bring this 10-year ban back. However, the truth cannot be denied: Today is a win for democracy and a win for the American people. Now we must continue the hard work of trying to pass federal legislation to protect our kids, enhance privacy safeguards, tear down liability shields, and establish clear guardrails for the burgeoning AI industry that has profound implications for society.”

Background

Buried away in the congressional reconciliation package, the 10-year AI moratorium would have used Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding as leverage, forcing states to surrender their authority to enforce or pass laws related to artificial intelligence and social media algorithms. If states refused to comply, they would risk losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding critical to supporting hospitals, schools, local governments, and underserved communities.

This provision would have effectively handed Big Tech a blank check to avoid accountability for the next 10 years, blocking state-level action on issues like algorithmic harms, deepfakes, online scams, and child safety.

Issue One worked tirelessly to push back against the moratorium’s sweeping consequences. Our team tracked changes to the legislation in real time, organized meetings on Capitol Hill with our experts and former members of Congress, mobilized more than 60,000 grassroots advocates to push back against the provision, and helped unite over 30 civil society organizations to defeat the harmful provision.