Cantwell, Markey File Amendment to Strip AI Moratorium from GOP Reconciliation Bill Amid Opposition to Blackburn-Cruz “Compromise”
June 30, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As opposition to the new Blackburn-Cruz AI moratorium “compromise” continues to grow, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) filed an amendment to strip any AI moratorium from the Republican budget reconciliation bill.
“The Blackburn-Cruz amendment does nothing to protect kids or consumers,” Sen. Cantwell said earlier today. “It’s just another giveaway to tech companies. This provision gives AI and social media a brand-new shield against litigation and state regulation. This is Section 230 on steroids. And when Howard Lutnick has the authority to force states to take this deal or lose all of their BEAD funding, consumers will find out just how catastrophic this deal is.”
"The Blackburn-Cruz so-called compromise is a wolf in sheep's clothing," said Senator Edward J. Markey. "Despite Republican efforts to hide the true impact of the AI moratorium, the language still allows the Trump administration to use federal broadband funding as a weapon against the states and still prevents states from protecting children online from Big Tech's predatory behavior. Republicans are selling out our kids and local communities — all to line the pockets of Big Tech billionaires. I am proud to partner with Ranking Member Cantwell on an amendment to strip this dangerous language."
While the “compromise” language adds child safety and other “generally applicable laws” to its list of purported exemptions, the standard is so vague that Big Tech companies would challenge nearly every consumer protection, kids online safety or privacy protection law in court as “overly burdensome.” It would also impact the thousands of pending lawsuits against social media companies’ harmful algorithms.
Here’s what others are warning about the Blackburn-Cruz five-year AI moratorium:
“The moratorium will undermine existing state protections against AI uses that lead to discriminatory outcomes in housing, credit, education, employment, and more. It will also prevent states from addressing the emerging challenges around data centers, generative AI, deepfakes, and chatbots. States’ continuing efforts to refine their approaches will serve as an important foundation for eventual federal legislation. For that reason, the moratorium has been opposed by bipartisan groups of governors, state attorneys general, and state legislators. In fact, the Republican governors of 17 states wrote to the Senate about the damage that the moratorium would cause to their ability to protect people in their states.”
“While it leaves working people vulnerable to AI abuses for 5 instead of the 10 years proposed in the underlying bill, amendment #2602 is dangerously worse than the original version in a big way. Under the Blackburn/Cruz amendment, even long-standing common law cannot be enforced against AI abuses if it would create an ‘undue or disproportionate burden’ for tech companies. This big favor to multibillion dollar companies, which want to turn our personal data into their personal profit, will leave all of us vulnerable to an extraordinarily unaccountable Big Tech industry in all sorts of new ways, hampering any individual’s efforts to address a wide range of AI-inflicted harms, from fraud to invasions of privacy to negligence.”
“Senators must oppose the Blackburn-Cruz amendment to create a 5-year ban on state AI laws and instead support the Cantwell amendment to remove the ban entirely, which is the only solution that works for kids and families. Most kids already interact with AI every day. From interacting with a voice assistant like Alexa to scrolling through a social media feed – we need guardrails. The Blackburn-Cruz amendment is fundamentally flawed and fails to protect kids from AI-driven dangers. Unregulated tech is already running rampage on a generation’s health and wellbeing, and so far states have been the first line of response.”
National Women’s Law Center Action Fund
“The current language, even with the recently added carveouts and shorter time periods, still threatens important state safeguards against uses of AI that lead to discriminatory outcomes in employment, housing, health care, credit, education, and more. Further, the provision provides no certainty that generally applicable laws and protections, such as facial recognition laws or data protection laws, would not be affected. With no federal protections in place, states must be able to protect their residents from the harm posed by AI and emerging challenges.”
National Consumers League (NCL)
“Despite language that purports to preserve “generally applicable” laws, the moratorium’s vague exemptions could preempt nearly any regulation applicable to automated decision-making systems—including those widely used in telemarketing, online platforms, and political advertising. NCL urges lawmakers to reject this overbroad provision and stand with consumers, not tech monopolies.”
“…laws like the ELVIS Act likely have a disproportionate burden on AI systems. They almost exclusively target AI systems and outputs, and the effect of the law will almost entirely be borne by AI companies. While trailing qualifiers always vex courts, the fact that “undue or disproportionate burden” is separated from the preceding list by a comma strongly suggests that it qualifies the entire list and not just “common law.” Common sense also counsels in favor of this reading: it’s unlikely that an inherently general body of law (like common law) would place a disproportionate burden on AI, while legislation like the ELVIS act absolutely could (and likely does). As we read the new text, the most likely outcome is that the laws Senator Blackburn wants to protect would not be protected.
“The so-called ‘compromise’ AI amendment in the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill includes a massive loophole to protect Big Tech companies.”
Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD)
Transportation workers and passengers across the country face a myriad of risks to their safety and security as transportation technologies rapidly evolve to make use of AI. With Congress failing to enact comprehensive AI regulation, workers deserve to continue to make their voices heard at the state and local levels to enact responsible, commonsense restrictions on the deployment of AI.
Songwriters of North America (SONA)
"SONA believes in strong frameworks to protect against AI misuse at all levels. The current proposals, including the recently proposed compromise regarding this state moratorium, strip away states’ freedom to legislate in the AI arena. Any moratorium would weaken existing and future essential protections for creators. Songwriters would therefore lack adequate recourse when their work or likeness is exploited by AI. The provision remains far too tech industry-friendly at the expense of the very creators that fuel the industry."
"This new language fixes nothing — Congress is still attempting to undo state protections. The so-called 'carve outs' for child protection and consumer safety are meaningless when a catch-all clause buried in the text bars enforcement of any state law that places an ‘undue’ or ‘disproportionate’ burden on AI systems —effectively undermining every consumer protection law passed at the state level. The updated provision is a clever Trojan horse designed to wipe out state protections while pretending to preserve them. No senator should fall for it.”
Steve Bannon and Mike Davis on Bannon’s War Room
“Tech lobbyists included a ‘semi-truck sized’ loophole in the moratorium that will shut down legal protections for kids and content creators.”
“Contrary to what proponents of the updated moratorium claim, recent changes to the proposal actually endanger the ability of states to enforce these laws. While the revised language adds child safety and other ‘generally applicable laws’ to its list of purported exemptions, it now requires states to prove these laws do not pose an ‘undue’ or ‘disproportionate burden’ on AI systems. Because many of these laws were passed in recent years to respond specifically to novel problems created by the rise of digital algorithms and AI systems, they burden AI systems by design, and for this reason fall outside the scope of the purported exemptions. Meanwhile, the vague standards set out in the moratorium will provide Big Tech a clear path to challenge nearly any state law in court, including ongoing litigation; this will lead to countless laws across the country becoming entangled in litigation.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
“Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) opposes provisions on artificial intelligence (AI) in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1, and the Senate language, including the June 29 compromise language. State actions on AI, which include protections on autonomous vehicles (AV), should not be undermined, especially in the absence of federal laws or rules.”
Americans for Responsible Innovation
“The Blackburn-Cruz compromise includes a loophole that continues to subject many AI/kids safety laws to the moratorium - even the ELVIS Act. The new language only upholds laws that don't place a ‘disproportionate burden’ on AI.
"Common Sense Media believes the revised language offered by Sens. Blackburn and Cruz to ban AI state law enforcement, which was developed without our input and released late last night, is intended to roll back the significant progress states have made to protect kids' well-being from social media and AI. We strongly oppose the amendment and urge Senators to reject this part of the budget reconciliation bill.”
Consumer Federation of America
“Last night, Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced an agreement to change the AI moratorium in the budget bill from ten years to five years, and changed key parts of the bill, making it easier for tech companies to evade accountability for anything they want to do. Somehow, the Senators have managed to make the provision worse for the American people, and better for AI companies.” Link to full statement.
Council for Innovation Promotion
“AI tools and platforms come with enormous potential — but also real risks. We urge Congress to reject this moratorium and protect states’ ability to craft thoughtful, responsible AI policy that can help inform eventual federal legislation.”
“Young people shouldn’t be collateral damage in Big Tech’s AI rush. The Blackburn-Cruz “compromise” leaves loopholes that could weaken laws meant to protect us and block justice for those already harmed.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation
“EFF opposes any language in the Reconciliation bill that would propose any moratorium on states’ ability to regulate AI - essentially saying only Congress, not state legislatures, can place safeguards on AI. Especially while no comprehensive package to regulate AI has been proposed at the federal level, blocking states from the ability to react to emerging problems is misguided at best. At worst, this proposal will undermine a myriad of common-sense regulations on everything from malicious robocalls to necessary regulations for self-driving cars.”
International Longshore & Warehouse Union
“Overnight, we saw an agreement between Senators Blackburn (R-TN) and Cruz (R-TX) on a new version of the AI moratorium provision. On behalf of the over 40,000 workers the ILWU represents, I want to reiterate our strong opposition to the new AI moratorium provision, which would still block every state from enacting laws to protect workers from unregulated AI and automation. This dangerous federal overreach would silence state and local voices at a time when AI is rapidly disrupting jobs not only in ports, but in warehouses, hospitals, hotels, music industry, and public services across the country.”
National Conference of State Legislatures
“As the U.S. Senate advances the reconciliation budget bill this week, NCSL reiterates our strong opposition to the proposed AI moratorium. NCSL urges all U.S. senators to reject this misguided provision.”
“At a time when new details emerge every day about Big Tech’s untested AI assistants and chatbots causing harm to people, especially kids, Congress should be encouraging more oversight, not AI amnesty. This terrible deal all but ensures kids will not be protected online. If Republicans were truly serious about holding Google, Meta, OpenAI, and other tech giants accountable, they wouldn’t be trying to grant yet another giveaway to Big Tech,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of The Tech Oversight Project. “Let’s be clear: Big Tech’s so-called ‘national strategy’ means no strategy whatsoever – tech companies don’t want to follow any rules, and Congress is willingly playing along.”
United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry
“The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry has opposed and continues to oppose the newest version of the AI moratorium included in the budget reconciliation bill as of Monday, June 30, including the Cruz-Blackburn compromise. This provision should be struck in today’s vote-a-rama in the Senate and removed before the House votes on any package emerging from the Senate. We also stand alongside our colleagues in the United Church of Christ Washington DC national office in opposing the other devastating provisions in the legislation.”
Writer’s Guild of America East
“The US Senate is poised to vote as early this afternoon on an amendment in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill that stops states and localities from regulating artificial intelligence. Call your Senators NOW at 202-224-3121 to demand they strip the AI moratorium from the budget bill.”
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