Lawmakers voted 99 to 1 to remove a rule that would have stopped states from making their own AI laws. This happened during a long voting session called a “vote-a-rama,” where many changes were suggested to a big bill that Republicans want to pass.
Only one lawmaker, Republican Senator Thom Tillis, voted to keep the ban. Later, the Senate passed the tax bill with a 51-50 vote.
The original plan from Trump’s side would have stopped states from using a new $500 million fund for AI if they tried to regulate AI on their own.
Big AI companies like Google (Alphabet) and OpenAI want Congress—not states—to make AI rules. They believe that too many different state rules could slow down innovation.
Senator Maria Cantwell, a top Democrat, supported the vote to remove the ban. She said, “We can’t ignore good state laws that protect people.” She added that states should be able to fight robocalls, deepfakes and make rules for safe self-driving cars.
Seventeen Republican governors had asked Congress to remove the ban. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “Now we can protect our kids from the dangers of unregulated AI.”
Senator Marsha Blackburn had first agreed to a compromise with Senator Ted Cruz. That deal would have kept the ban for five years and let states make some rules, like protecting artists’ voices and kids’ safety, as long as they didn’t create big problems for AI companies.
But Blackburn changed her mind and withdrew her support for the compromise before the vote.
She said, “Until Congress passes national laws to protect kids online and ensure privacy, we can’t stop states from making their laws to protect people.”
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