Trump's push to overrule state AI regulations stalls

• Sources familiar with the matter described the proposal from Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) as "a long shot," "it's dead" and "it will fail."

State of play: Scalise and Cruz pitched straight preemption language to override most state-level AI laws without any additional federal regulatory framework, three sources familiar told Axios.

• That is what's being circulated to members on both sides of the aisle after weeks of negotiations and a flurry of different ideas being thrown around.
• Language to protect kids online, carveouts for intellectual property laws, and adopting California's AI transparency law are among the ideas that did not make it into what Cruz and Scalise are shopping around.

The bottom line: That's highly unlikely to work.

• Democrats, Republicans, state-level lawmakers and attorneys general from both sides of the aisle, along with consumer protection groups and child safety advocates, all oppose the approach.
• The timing is also tough: National Defense Authorization Act negotiators are cold on attaching preemption language to the must-pass bill, as its backers are hoping to do.