Exclusive: Republican governors want state AI pause out of budget bill
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks during CPAC on February 22, 2025. Photo: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
A group of 17 Republican governors wrote to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday calling for the state AI bill moratorium to be stripped from the reconciliation bill.
The big picture: Many Republican-run states have passed AI-related laws and don't want to see them knocked down.
- The letter is led by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and signed by the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming.
- The governors wrote in the letter that the provision "threatens to undo all the work states have done to protect our citizens from the misuse of artificial intelligence."
Catch up quick: Earlier on Friday, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the provision does not violate the Byrd Rule as long as its conditions only apply to a $500 million pot of AI deployment grants.
- Sanders wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post against the AI moratorium earlier this week.
What they're saying: "In just the past year, states have led on smart regulations of the AI industry that simultaneously protect consumers while also encouraging this ever-developing and critical sector," the governors write.
- "As Republican Governors, we support the One, Big, Beautiful Bill and President Trump's vision of American AI dominance, but we cannot support a provision that takes away states' powers to protect our citizens."
