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WASHINGTON, DC – During today’s House Energy and Commerce Committee markup on the Republican reconciliation legislation, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) railed against a massive giveaway to Big Tech companies that would harm consumers and kids online. The provision buried in the bill would prohibit state-level protections on AI, allowing tech companies to deploy this emerging technology without restriction.

“A ban on state regulations of AI for ten years shows where Republicans’ loyalty is: to Big Tech and the wealthy. Dismantling states’ regulations on technology amounts to a financial windfall of epic proportions, consistent with tax cuts for the rich that the Ways & Means Republicans marked up today,” Congresswoman Trahan said. “This provision absolves companies of any responsibility to protect consumers from the harms of AI. It is also drafted so broadly as to implicate states’ privacy and online safety laws, directly harming our kids.”

CLICK HERE or the image below to view Trahan’s remarks during the Committee’s consideration of reconciliation legislation. A transcript is embedded below.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is currently marking up House Republicans’ reconciliation package that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would cut $715 billion from Medicaid and eliminate health coverage for at least 13.7 million Americans. Included in that bill is a provision that would ban states from creating or implementing laws to limit potential harms of AI, effectively allowing Big Tech companies to deploy a rapidly changing technology without any accountability for its negative impacts.

During debate over the legislation, Trahan spoke in support of an amendment filed by House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) to strike the 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation.

“This handout for big tech and ultra-wealthy tech barons in the same reconciliation bill that guts healthcare for millions is what people hate about Washington. It’s lop-sided and it’s insulting,” Congresswoman Trahan continued. “If Republicans had chosen to start this hearing with the faces and stories of who they are advocating for, you wouldn’t see everyday Americans like us Democrats held up. We’d be looking at posters of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos.”

Following debate on the amendment, every House Republican on the committee voted No, preserving the provision in the legislation.

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Congresswoman Lori Trahan

Remarks As Delivered

House Energy and Commerce Committee Markup – AI Moratorium Amendment

May 14, 2025

I move to strike the last word.

Very soon, this Committee will be debating the biggest cuts to Medicaid in our nation’s history. Cuts that will strip health insurance from over 13 million Americans all to pay for tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest in our country.

Republicans will say that they aren’t cutting Medicaid – that they are simply implementing quote “sensible” work requirements. But please stay skeptical.

Republicans are implementing cumbersome requirements because added paperwork will lead to less compliance and ultimately, less people enrolled, conveniently giving them enough space to fill the pot for their super-rich friends. A group of friends that, we should note, is headlined by the same big tech CEOs who stood behind President Trump at his inauguration. A group of friends who will say they want a federal privacy policy, a national AI framework while spending millions of dollars to make sure those bills never see the House Floor.

A ban on state regulations of AI for ten years shows where Republicans’ loyalty is: to Big Tech and the wealthy. Dismantling states’ regulations on technology amounts to a financial windfall of epic proportions, consistent with tax cuts for the rich that the Ways & Means Republicans marked up today.

This provision absolves companies of any responsibility to protect consumers from the harms of AI. It is also drafted so broadly as to implicate states’ privacy and online safety laws, directly harming our kids. Simply put, this provision, this single paragraph snuck into a massive budget bill, would undermine digital rights duly provided to millions of Americans by their state legislatures. 

States have taken the lead in regulating technology while Congress has stalled out amidst a barrage of endless lobbying. If privacy and kids’ online safety are any indication, this Congress will not pass meaningful, comprehensive regulation of AI.

And I ask my colleagues: what gives you so much optimism that Congress can pass meaningful protections for AI, privacy, or online safety? You claim that states have created a patchwork of regulations – why do you think state lawmakers have done that? You think they want to be legislating on difficult questions of technology policy?

No. No, state lawmakers have stepped up because their federal counterparts – we – have consistently failed to act. Americans are fed up, and instead they’re asking state legislatures to protect them and their kids online.

Make no mistake: this provision is a product of big tech lobbying. Companies including Meta and Google have long asked for it, and trade associations for big tech rejoiced when Republicans included it in this bill. Because what this provision represents is the biggest gift to the tech industry in its history.

Put in context, however, this ban on tech regulation is not just bad policy, it’s morally bankrupt. We can work together on modernizing our systems, leveraging our data and our analytics. But Mr. Chairman, think about it: Republicans are effectively eliminating requirements on technology companies to make their products safe and trustworthy while, at the same time, adding requirements for Americans to receive lifesaving healthcare. 

Under their bill, Americans will have to jump through hoops and complete mounds of paperwork to prove that they are working. Technology companies, on the other hand, won’t have to show their work at all. This handout for big tech and ultra-wealthy tech barons in the same reconciliation bill that guts healthcare for millions is what people hate about Washington. It’s lop-sided and it’s insulting.

If Republicans had chosen to start this hearing with the faces and stories of who they are advocating for, you wouldn’t see everyday Americans like us Democrats held up. We’d be looking at posters of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos.

Requirements, compliance, and paperwork for busy, working class Americans, but not for billionaire big tech donors. That’s the Republican way, according to this legislation.

But I’d love to be proven wrong. So vote yes on the amendment. I yield back.

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