Trahan, Lori RSS Articles

Trahan, Moulton Request Federal Support for Haverhill Sewage Emergency

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) and Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-06) wrote to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin requesting additional federal support in response to the ongoing Haverhill wastewater emergency.

“As communities across the Commonwealth continue recovering from the recent sewer main failure in Haverhill, it is increasingly clear that local governments, even those acting responsibly and proactively, cannot shoulder the costs of long-term infrastructure modernization without stronger, more reliable federal partnership,” the lawmakers wrote.

ollowing intense rainfall last month, a main sewer line in Haverhill broke, resulting in the significant discharge of untreated wastewater into the Merrimack River. Despite state and local efforts, harmful bacteria made its way down the river, impacting communities across the Merrimack Valley and even forcing the temporary closure of multiple North Shore beaches.

In their letter, the lawmakers cite the City of Haverhill's aging combined sewer system, which collects both sewage and stormwater runoff into the same network of pipes. During significant precipitation, these systems can become overwhelmed and lead to combined sewer overflows (CSOs) into nearby bodies of water. Haverhill, like many communities along the Merrimack River, has been working for years to complete expensive sewer system upgrades with little to no federal investment.

“For nearly a decade, Haverhill has been working closely with the EPA under a 2016 consent decree that requires substantial upgrades to its sewer system and treatment plant. The City has acted in good faith, investing heavily in planning, engineering, and permitting to overhaul a decades-old system and reduce the risk of pollution and public health crises,” the lawmakers continued.“However, despite the city's long-standing efforts to modernize its aging wastewater infrastructure, the lack of sustained federal investment has left the infrastructure still vulnerable to incidents like this.”

In their letter, the lawmakers requested that the EPA work with Congress to identify long-term federal funding streams for communities replacing aging water infrastructure, including the establishment of rapid-response dollars for emergencies like the one in Haverhill and the restoration of robust grant funding for combined sewer upgrades. They also warned that the administration's Fiscal Year 2027 budget request would cut federal water infrastructure funding by roughly 90 percent, slashing the Clean Water State Revolving Fund from approximately $2.5 billion to just $155 million.

“Underfunding these programs forces communities to defer essential repairs, leaving systems vulnerable to catastrophic public health failures like the one Haverhill just experienced,” the lawmakers concluded. “We urge you to work with our offices to identify long-term federal funding streams to ensure cities like Haverhill are not continually overburdened by the growing costs to replace aging water infrastructure.”

Trahan and Moulton have repeatedly advocated for increased federal funding for combined sewer upgrades. In addition to supporting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has delivered more than $600 million in federal investments for wastewater improvement projects across the Commonwealth, the lawmakers have also worked to increase funding for the EPA's Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant (OSG) Program. When Trahan first took office in 2019, the grant program was entirely unfunded. Following the lawmakers' efforts, the OSG program saw modest increases year over year, but that growth has stagnated in recent years. Trahan also introduced the bipartisan Stop Sewage Overflow Act to expand and improve the OSG program.

A copy of the letter sent today can be accessed HERE.

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WHAV: Trahan, Moulton Request Federal Aid for Haverhill Sewage Emergency

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Congresswoman Lori Trahan and Congressman Seth Moulton this morning appealed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help pay for Haverhill’s recent forced main sewer collapse.

Trahan and Moulton this morning asked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in a letter for additional federal support in response to the ongoing Haverhill wastewater emergency.

The federal legislators noted the city’s 2016 consent decree requires substantial upgrades to its sewer system and treatment plant. They point out “the city has acted in good faith, investing heavily in planning, engineering and permitting to overhaul a decades-old system and reduce the risk of pollution and public health crises.”

However, Trahan and Moulton said, “the lack of sustained federal investment has left the infrastructure still vulnerable to incidents like this.” They explained, “Emergency repairs alone require significant resources, while permanent replacement of aging mains, expanding treatment capacity and completing sewer separation require tens of millions of dollars. Small cities like Haverhill simply do not have the financial capacity to absorb these costs. They instead are forced to rely on a patchwork of limited federal dollars, state loans and strained local budgets to advance projects that are essential for long-term public health and economic development.”

In their letter, the lawmakers requested the EPA work with Congress to find federal money for communities replacing aging water infrastructure, including the establishment of rapid-response dollars for emergencies like the one in Haverhill and the restoration of robust grants for combined sewer upgrades.

They warned that the administration’s budget request for the year starting Oct. 1 would cut federal water infrastructure money by roughly 90%, slashing the Clean Water State Revolving Fund from approximately $2.5 billion to just $155 million.

“Underfunding these programs forces communities to defer essential repairs, leaving systems vulnerable to catastrophic public health failures like the one Haverhill just experienced,” the lawmakers concluded. “We urge you to work with our offices to identify long-term federal funding streams to ensure cities like Haverhill are not continually overburdened by the growing costs to replace aging water infrastructure.”

As WHAV reported initially, most of Haverhill’s sewage began flowing into the Merrimack River after an about 50-year-old, 42-inch, concrete main collapsed following torrential rains late at night, June 26. Ahead of expectations, and at a cost of about $2.5 million, the city built the first of two, 24-inch bypass mains by Wednesday, July 1, ending the discharge of untreated sewage.

Gov. Maura Healey and top state officials called attention to high cost of infrastructure,

“Aging water infrastructure is under increasing stress from more frequent extreme weather. I’m asking for assistance with federal funding for the infrastructure that we need along the Merrimack River,” she said.

The Merrimack River Watershed Council said this morning, “bacteria levels in the Merrimack River downstream of the repair appear to be back within normal ranges.” The organization noted tests last Friday and Saturday still showed elevated readings three to four times the safety limit at the West Newbury test site that were likely attributable to the Haverhill break as that site was the slowest to flush out. Elevated results in Newburyport Harbor were called “more likely a repeat of elevated mid-summer readings documented in 2025 and not a lingering impact of the recent Haverhill sewer break.

In their letter, the lawmakers cited Haverhill’s aging combined sewer system, which collects both sewage and stormwater runoff into the same network of pipes. During significant precipitation, these systems can become overwhelmed and lead to combined sewer overflows into nearby bodies of water. Haverhill, like many communities along the Merrimack River, has been working for years to complete expensive sewer system upgrades with little to no federal investment.

Trahan and Moulton said they have also worked to increase money for the EPA’s Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program, but growth has stagnated in recent years. Trahan also introduced the bipartisan Stop Sewage Overflow Act to expand and improve the program.

Trahan, Markey, Warren Introduce Legislation to Provide Grants for Local Water Infrastructure Emergencies

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced the Water Emergency and Technical Assistance Act to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize emergency assistance and grants for clean water and drinking water infrastructure.

When severe rainstorms in June caused a sewer pipe to break in Haverhill, Massachusetts, millions of gallons of untreated wastewater flowed into the Merrimack River, endangering public safety and resulting in economic losses from beach and fisheries closures. This legislation would provide technical and financial support to water treatment facilities during emergency situations in order to prevent and mitigate threats to public health, such as exposure to contaminants.

“Haverhill showed us what happens when a century-old system fails and the federal government is nowhere to be found. Cities were left to fight sewage flowing into the Merrimack with local dollars and borrowed time,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “Our bill fixes that. It puts real federal money on the table the moment an emergency like this hits, so no community has to face it alone.”

“Water system emergencies spell disaster for their communities—they’re expensive, bad for business, and dangerous to public health. Our communities deserve clean water and quick access to support in response to emergency situations that put their health and economies in danger,” said Senators Markey and Warren. “The federal government should be able to provide emergency grants for emergency situations. This legislation would authorize grants for clean water and drinking water, so we can spend more time keeping our communities safe and local businesses open and less time hiking rates and fighting pollution.”

The Water Emergency and Technical Assistance Act would create a new emergency grant program under the Clean Water Act, funded at $50 million annually, to help communities respond immediately to failures in their wastewater systems, including combined sewer overflows and other critical system failures that threaten public health. The program would also make emergency funding and technical assistance available for other threats to water systems, including cybersecurity breaches that pose a substantial risk to public health. Additionally, the bill would reauthorize and expand the existing emergency grant program for drinking water systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act, increasing annual funding from $35 million to $50 million.

Last month, a main sewer line in Haverhill broke following intense rainfall, discharging untreated wastewater into the Merrimack River, forcing the temporary closure of multiple North Shore beaches, and halting local shellfish operations. The city moved quickly to install an emergency bypass, but it did so with little federal support. Had the bill introduced today been in place, Haverhill could have received federal emergency funds to support its immediate response, including the bypass installation.

The Water Emergency and Technical Assistance Act builds on Trahan's ongoing efforts to secure federal support for communities along the Merrimack River. Yesterday, she led a request to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin requesting rapid response funding for water emergencies, long-term investment in replacing aging infrastructure, and restored grant funding for combined sewer upgrades. Trahan also introduced the bipartisan Stop Sewage Overflow Act to grow federal investment in combined sewer overflow projects to $500 million annually, and has secured direct community project funding for CSO work in Haverhill, Methuen, and Lowell. Emergency response funding would complement the long-term federal investment needed to complete wastewater system upgrades like the one underway in Haverhill for nearly a decade.

Full text of the can be accessed HERE.

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Trahan Statement on Mass General Brigham Nurses Strike

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, issued the following statement regarding the Mass General Brigham nurses strike:

“Nurses are the unsung heroes in our broken healthcare system. The nurses and caregivers at Mass General Brigham have shown up for their patients through a pandemic, through staffing shortages, and through impossibly long shifts. They deserve a contract that respects their work and their commitment to families across our Commonwealth.”

“No one wants to see nurses on a picket line instead of at the bedside, least of all nurses themselves. It’s imperative that Mass General Brigham and the Massachusetts Nurses Association return to the table and negotiate in good faith until they reach a contract that honors the lifesaving work these nurses do day in and day out.”

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Trahan Marks One Year of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC) Co-Chair Lori Trahan (MA-03) joined House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, Vice Chair Ted Lieu, DPCC Chair Debbie Dingell, and DPCC Co-Chairs Maxwell Frost and Lauren Underwood to mark one year of Donald Trump’s One Big, Ugly Bill.

“Instead of calling a single vote to bring prices down, Republican leaders have put a toothless resolution on the floor this week celebrating the one-year anniversary of their One Big, Ugly Bill,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “They're taking a victory lap on the same bill that ripped health care away from millions of Americans and took food out of the mouths of hungry kids, all to pay for a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest one percent of people in our country.”

Footage of Trahan’s remarks can be accessed HERE or by clicking the image below. A transcript of her remarks as delivered is embedded below.

Trump’s One Big, Ugly Bill made the single largest cut to Americans’ healthcare in history, totaling more than $1 trillion slashed from Medicaid. Coupled with another $187 billion in cuts to federal food assistance programs, the bill has had devastating impacts already. In the first twelve months since it was enacted:

Five million Americans have lost their ACA health insurance after Republicans blocked the extension of cost-saving tax credits.
Average monthly health insurance costs have spiked by 58 percent for ACA enrollees, with many seeing increases up to ten times their 2025 costs.
Four million Americans are at risk of going hungry after losing access to SNAP benefits.
Up to 10 million Americans are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage by 2028.
Middle-income Americans are seeing their taxes increase by $900 on average this year, while the top 1 percent prepares to pay a trillion dollars less in the next decade.

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Congresswoman Lori Trahan

Remarks as Delivered

House Democratic Caucus Press Conference on One-Year Anniversary of Trump’s One Big, Ugly Bill

June 30, 2026

Thank you, Lauren, and thank you to Chairman Aguilar and Vice Chair Lieu for hosting us this morning.

This weekend, America turns 250 years old. Whether families are filling up their tanks to hit the road or firing up the grill at home, they’re bracing for what it is going to cost them.

Because a year and a half into Donald Trump's presidency, life has only gotten harder for the vast majority of Americans. Gas prices are up. Grocery prices are up. Prescription drug prices have skyrocketed. And the cost of health care keeps climbing.

So as folks prepare for their Fourth of July weekend, what are Republicans in Congress doing to help the people that we represent?

Are they putting a bill on the floor to make it easier to travel and see their family? No.

What about legislation to make it a little more affordable to host a barbecue? Not a chance.

How about something to give parents the peace of mind that they can afford a doctor's visit when their kids get sick or injured? We all know the answer to that question.

Instead of calling a single vote to bring prices down, Republican leaders have put a toothless resolution on the floor this week celebrating the one-year anniversary of their One Big, Ugly Bill. They're taking a victory lap on the same bill that ripped health care away from millions of Americans and took food out of the mouths of hungry kids, all to pay for a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest one percent of people in our country.

So when you fill up your tank or stop by the grocery store this weekend, and you're wondering how the heck you're going to afford that bill, just know that Republicans in Washington are throwing themselves a party and hardworking Americans, not invited.

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Trahan Statement on Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship Decision

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) issued the following statement following the Supreme Court’s Trump v. Barbara decision:

“For more than 150 years, ever since the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in the aftermath of the Civil War, the rule has been clear: if you are born on American soil, you are an American. That principle has endured through generations because it reflects both our Constitution and our values. Donald Trump tried to erase it with the stroke of a pen, and today he failed.”

“The idea that a child can be born in the United States and be told they are not American defies the Constitution, defies longstanding Supreme Court precedent, and defies the basic promise this country makes to every family building a life here.”

“This is a victory, but it should never have come to this. No president should be able to decide who counts as American by executive order. Families here in Massachusetts and across the country can breathe easier today. I will keep fighting to make sure no family ever has to wonder whether the rights guaranteed by our Constitution can simply be signed away.”

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Trahan Backs Long Overdue Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Children Online

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee, spoke on the House floor in support of the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act (KIDS) Act, bipartisan legislation containing multiple provisions to better protect children from online harms.

“Our children have been left to navigate one of the most powerful and manipulative technologies ever built, and they've been left to do it alone,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “That ends with this bill.”

Footage of Trahan’s remarks on the House floor can be accessed HERE or by clicking the image below. A transcript of her remarks as delivered is embedded.

The KIDS Act combines the Kids Online Safety Act, the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), new data broker transparency requirements, and several additional measures into a single package of baseline protections for kids and teens online. The bill is the product of months of bipartisan negotiations led by Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) and Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (KY-02).

Among its provisions, the KIDS Act:

Updates COPPA to strengthen privacy protections and extend them from children under 13 to teens up to age 17, adding data minimization requirements, rights to access, correct, and delete data, and a ban on targeted advertising to minors.
Requires social media platforms, including social gaming platforms, to enable safeguards by default, including limits on addictive design features, restrictions on sharing minors’ geolocation, and protections that keep adults from contacting or being recommended minor accounts.
Gives parents tools to restrict minors’ purchases and screen time and to receive alerts when unknown users contact their kids.
Requires chatbots to disclose that they are not human and to provide suicide prevention resources when prompted.
Forces data brokers that sell kids' data to register annually with the Federal Trade Commission.

Crucially, the bill explicitly preserves the right of states to enact and enforce stronger protections for children online, ensuring federal action serves as a floor rather than a ceiling.

Congresswoman Trahan has spent years on the Energy and Commerce Committee advocating for stronger online protections for children, from her early work on social media data transparency to legislation aimed at curbing the harms platforms pose to young users.

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Congresswoman Lori Trahan

Remarks as Delivered

Floor Speech on KIDS Act

June 29, 2026

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Ranking Member for yielding and for his strong leadership on this vitally important issue.

When I joined the Energy and Commerce Committee six years ago, I committed to doing everything in my power to make the internet a safer place for my children, my two young daughters specifically. In the years since, I've sat in hearing after hearing where we've talked about doing something to deliver on that promise. I've met with parents who have lived every family's worst nightmare, parents whose children harmed themselves, and even ended their lives, because executives in Silicon Valley cared more about their stock price than the safety of our children.

I looked those parents in the eye. I cried with them as they told their story. And then I went home to have hard conversations with my own girls about how the apps they use – Instagram, TikTok, and others – are engineered to make them doubt their image and question their worth.

For years, this crisis has gone unanswered, decades at this point. Our children have been left to navigate one of the most powerful and manipulative technologies ever built, and they've been left to do it alone. Well, this bill ends that.

To be clear, Mr. Speaker, the KIDS Act doesn't solve every problem, but it makes one heck of a dent. It finally gives kids and teens overdue privacy protections. It forces platforms to turn on safeguards by default, instead of burying them where no parent can find them. It puts tools in the hands of moms and dads. And it makes companies answer for the worst harms that they allow on their platforms.

Is it everything I want? No. I've heard from parents and advocates who believe we should go further, and they're right that this fight isn't over. We can and must continue to build upon this progress, but I refuse to tell families to wait for a better political moment or for a perfect bill that may never come when meaningful protections are in front of us right now. And critically, these are protections built to last, not ones written to be struck down in court on the day they take effect.

I want to thank Ranking Member Pallone for his commitment to these negotiations, and I want to acknowledge the work of leaders on the committee on this issue, including Congresswoman Kathy Castor and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke.

Today, we pass the KIDS Act. Tomorrow, we keep fighting for safer digital spaces for every child, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence. I urge my colleagues to vote yes, and I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you.

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Trahan Statement on the Bipartisan KIDS Act

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee, issued the following statement regarding the bipartisan compromise to advance the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, a child online safety legislative package expected to be considered by the U.S. House of Representatives next week:

“For the last six years, I have worked as a mom and a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee to protect children online. With the bipartisan KIDS Act, we have a real chance to notch a win in that fight. I commend Ranking Member Pallone for his diligence and persistence in negotiating the strongest compromise possible on an issue that is as urgent as it is difficult.”

“Like any compromise, the KIDS Act isn’t perfect. I’ve heard from parents and advocates who believe Congress should go further, and I agree with much of what they’re asking for. But we cannot tell children and families to wait until Democrats retake power in Washington to act, not when real progress is sitting right in front of us. The protections we win today have to actually hold. Provisions that sound strong but get struck down in court tomorrow don’t keep a single kid safer. This agreement is built to survive, and that matters.”

“I’m proud to support the KIDS Act, and I’m just as committed to what comes next. I will keep fighting for every tool parents need to hold Big Tech accountable and for every protection our children deserve.”

Trahan Leads 125 Lawmakers Calling on Trump Administration to Reverse Harmful Rule Changes to Health Research Grant Process

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, was joined by Representatives Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Suzan DelBene (WA-01) in leading 125 members of Congress demanding that the Trump Administration stop a proposed rule change to the traditionally nonpartisan federal grantmaking process. The letter, written to White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, demonstrated how the administration’s proposed changes will impede critical health research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and at research institutions across the country.

“We write in opposition to the Office of Management and Budget’s disastrous and likely unlawful proposed rule that would devastate American health care innovation for generations,” the lawmakers wrote. “...This alarming change would convert our venerable gran review process into a political obstacle course and insider’s game, irreparably damaging our nation’s leading health research institutions, including the National Institutes of Health and its grantees across the country.”

Since the end of World War II, NIH has relied on qualified peer reviewers and nonpolitical expert evaluators to determine which health care research puts Americans’ tax dollars to best use. This thorough, nonpolitical process has set the global standard for high-quality grant review and propelled U.S. institutions like the NIH and its grantees to the forefront of scientific innovation, discovery and research.

New proposed rule changes from OMB will give partisan political appointees final say over grant decisions and sideline the longstanding and trusted peer review process. Undoing the peer review process in favor of political grantmaking will delay and disrupt health care research that millions of Americans depend on.

“OMB’s guidance would provide little recourse to people subject to political retribution,” the lawmakers continued. “President Trump’s sacking of thousands of NIH researchers and scientists has led to severe understaffing and grant approval delays at NIH. This rule change would make an already problematic situation disastrous.”

A copy of the letter sent today can be accessed HERE.

Additional signers of the letter include Representatives Mark Pocan, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Sharice L. Davids, Adriano Espaillat, Maxine Waters, Suhas Subramanyam, Nancy Pelosi, Bennie G. Thompson, Mike Quigley, Danny K. Davis, Mark DeSaulnier, Mary Gay Scanlon, Janelle S. Bynum, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Sylvia R. Garcia, William R. Keating, Madeleine Dean, Steny H. Hoyer, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Becca Balint, Seth Moulton, April McClain Delaney, Rashida Tlaib, Steve Cohen, Steven Horsford, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Sarah Elfreth, Adam Smith, Pete Aguilar, Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr., Pablo José Hernández, Chris Deluzio, Jonathan L. Jackson, Joyce Beatty, Richard E. Neal, Stephen F. Lynch, James R. Walkinshaw, André Carson, Jimmy Panetta, Shontel M. Brown, Gwen S. Moore, Christian D. Menefee, Yassamin Ansari, Timothy M. Kennedy, Brad Sherman, Ted W. Lieu, Adelita S. Grijalva, Andrea Salinas, Maxine Dexter, M.D., Haley M. Stevens, John B. Larson, Valerie P. Foushee, Donald S. Beyer Jr., Mike Levin, Lateefah Simon, Analilia Mejia, Kathy Castor, Jennifer L. McClellan, Jan Schakowsky, Paul D. Tonko, Robin L. Kelly, Eric Sorensen, Judy Chu, Johnny Olszewski, Jr., Greg Stanton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ro Khanna, Deborah K. Ross, Emanuel Cleaver II, Glenn F. Ivey, Nellie Pou, Juan Vargas, Joaquin Castro, Frederica S. Wilson, Chellie Pingree, Gabe Amo, Mark Takano, Derek T. Tran, Shri Thanedar, J. Luis Correa, John Garamendi, Angie Craig, Kweisi Mfume, Julia Brownley, Zoe Lofgren, Seth Magaziner, Debbie Dingell, Sarah McBride, Sean Casten, Grace Meng, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ayanna Pressley, Wesley Bell, Jasmine Crockett, Melanie Stansbury, Sam T. Liccardo, Kelly Morrison, Jesús G. "Chuy" García, Maggie Goodlander, Salud Carbajal, Chrissy Houlahan, Troy A. Carter, Sr., Shomari Figures, Dina Titus, Rick Larsen, Terri A. Sewell, Bill Foster, Julie Johnson, Jake Auchincloss, Mike Thompson, Jared Huffman, Delia C. Ramirez, Lizzie Fletcher, Rosa L. DeLauro, Brittany Pettersen, Bradley Scott Schneider, Emily Randall, Jim Himes, Pramila Jayapal, Jahana Hayes, Lois Frankel, and Dwight Evans.

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House Panel Approves Key Trahan AI Priorities

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA-03) applauded the approval of key provisions of her and Congressman Jay Obernolte's (R-CA-23) bipartisan AI discussion draft by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. During today’s markup, the Committee advanced multiple bills that contained priorities in the draft text of the Great American Artificial Intelligence Act (GAAIA) published earlier this month.

“Passage of these bills is a real step forward, and it happened because members of both parties decided the American people can't afford for Congress to stay on the sidelines of the AI debate. I'm especially proud of the CAISI bill, which will put scientists and security experts at the center of our national response to AI,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “There's much more to do, including giving CAISI the authority to create the standards we need to know whether a frontier model is safe before it ships, not after something goes wrong. I'll continue working with members on both sides of the aisle to craft real rules of the road for the companies developing this powerful technology.”

Specifically, the Committee advanced the following provisions of GAAIA with bipartisan support:

H.R. 9363 establishes a Center for AI Security and Innovation (CAISI) under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to evaluate frontier AI models for national security risks and support voluntary standards. GAAIA Section 102.
H.R. 6461 directs NIST to build a standardized “model card” documentation template and technical guidelines for AI models. GAAIA Section 123.
H.R. 5584 instructs the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create competitive awards to develop K-12 AI literacy curricula, teacher training, and evaluation tools. GAAIA Section 211.
H.R. 5351 adds NSF student scholarships and fellowships in AI in addition to research on the use of AI tools in education. GAAIA Sections 231, 233.
H.R. 2385 establishes the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) to federate compute, data, and tools for U.S.-based researchers. GAAIA Section 423.
H.R. 9334 directs NSF to create interdisciplinary “trustworthy AI” fellowships and a NIST AI workforce framework. GAAIA Sections 221, 231.

GAAIA was released as a discussion draft this month to solicit feedback on provisions targeting frontier AI development, national and cybersecurity threats, workforce challenges, and the incorporation of AI into education systems. The lawmakers are continuing to collect input from stakeholders.

Text of the discussion draft can be accessed HERE.

A section-by-section summary can be accessed HERE.

A frequently asked questions document prepared by the Office of Congresswoman Lori Trahan can be accessed HERE.

Stakeholders, researchers, and members of the public are encouraged to submit feedback on the discussion draft to GAAIA@mail.house.gov.

WINTERFEST FEB. 21 - 22, 2020

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 05:00:00 GMT

Lowell's annual Winterfest weekend in downtown Lowell is a fun event featuring everything from a carousel and ice-skating to an all-you-can-eat chocolate festival.

Click here to learn more