U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, released a statement in response to President Trump's recent executive order on artificial intelligence (AI). Cantwell expressed concern about the order's broad approach to preemption, stating:
“This executive order’s overly broad preemption threatens states with lawsuits and funding cuts for protecting their residents from AI-powered frauds, scams, and deepfakes—leaving American consumers without any protection. Let’s get it right and pass a bipartisan national AI framework that both leads on innovation and protects consumers.”
Earlier this year, Senator Cantwell opposed a provision in the Republican budget reconciliation bill that would have imposed a ten-year moratorium on state-level AI laws and regulations. The provision was removed following a 99-1 vote in July.
In June, after Commerce Secretary Lutnick issued new guidance on the BEAD program which delayed state broadband deployment, Cantwell described this as particularly damaging when combined with the proposed AI moratorium. She led Democratic committee members in urging for a markup of the budget reconciliation Commerce title to address concerns such as the AI moratorium.
Senator Cantwell also organized a virtual roundtable with Senator Blackburn and Attorneys General from Washington and Tennessee to discuss how restricting state regulation could expose consumers to risks from AI-powered technologies.
Throughout late June, Cantwell criticized further legislative language tying $42 billion in BEAD funding to states' agreement not to enact or enforce state AI laws. Her office released statements and letters signed by hundreds of organizations and officials opposing these restrictions. On June 29, she spoke on the Senate Floor about potential dangers related to these provisions. She subsequently introduced amendments alongside Senators Markey and Blackburn aiming to remove such language from legislation.
