Latest news with #BigBeautifulBill
NBC News
2 hours ago
- Business
- NBC News
Big Beautiful Bill AI provision brings together an unexpected group of critics
As Senate Republicans rush to pass their hodgepodge tax and spending package — the Big Beautiful Bill — controversy has arisen around an unusual provision: a 10-year moratorium on states passing their own laws regulating artificial intelligence. Congress has been slow to pass any regulation on AI, a rapidly evolving technology, leaving states to write their own laws. Those state laws largely focus on preventing specific harms, like banning the use deepfake technology to create nonconsensual pornography, to mislead voters about specific issues or candidates or to mimic music artists' voices without permission. Some major companies that lead the U.S. AI industry have argued that a mix of state laws needlessly hamstrings the technology, especially as the U.S. seeks to compete with China. But a wide range of opposition — including some prominent Republican lawmakers, child safety advocates and civil rights groups — say states are a necessary bulwark against a dangerous technology that can cause unknown harms within the next decade. The Trump administration has been clear that it wants to loosen the reins on AI's expansion. During his first week in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to ease regulations on the technology and revoke 'existing AI policies and directives that act as barriers to American AI innovation. And in February, Vice President JD Vance gave a speech at an AI summit in Paris that made clear that the Trump administration wanted to prioritize AI dominance over regulation. But a Pew Research Center study in April found that far more Americans who are not AI experts are more concerned about the risks of AI than the potential benefits. 'Congress has just shown it can't do a lot in this space,' Larry Norden, the vice president of the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center, a New York University-tied nonprofit that advocates for democratic issues, told NBC News. 'To take the step to say we are not doing anything, and we're going to prevent the states from doing anything is, as far as I know, unprecedented. Especially given the stakes with this technology, it's really dangerous,' Norden said. The provision in the omnibus package was introduced by the Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Texas Republican Ted Cruz. Cruz's office deferred comment to the committee, which has issued an explainer saying that, under the proposed rule, states that want a share of a substantial federal investment in AI must 'pause any enforcement of any state restrictions, as specified, related to AI models, AI systems, or automated decision systems for 10 years.' On Friday, the Senate Parliamentarian said that while some provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are subject to a 60-vote threshold to determine whether or not they can remain in the bill, the AI moratorium is not one of them. Senate Republicans said they are aiming to bring the bill to a vote on Saturday. All Senate Democrats are expected to vote against the omnibus bill. But some Republicans have said they oppose the moratorium on states passing AI laws, including Sens. Josh Hawley of Arkansas, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trump ally, posted on X earlier this month that, when she signed the House version of the bill, she didn't realize it would keep states from creating their own AI laws. 'Full transparency, I did not know about this section,' Greene wrote. 'We have no idea what AI will be capable of in the next 10 years and giving it free rein and tying states' hands is potentially dangerous.' Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican on the Commerce Committee, has said she opposes the 10-year moratorium. 'We cannot prohibit states across the country from protecting Americans, including the vibrant creative community in Tennessee, from the harms of AI,' she said in a statement provided to NBC News. 'For decades, Congress has proven incapable of passing legislation to govern the virtual space and protect vulnerable individuals from being exploited by Big Tech.' State lawmakers and attorneys general of both parties also oppose the AI provision. An open letter signed by 260 state legislators expressed their 'strong opposition' to the moratorium. 'Over the next decade, AI will raise some of the most important public policy questions of our time, and it is critical that state policymakers maintain the ability to respond,' the letter reads. Similarly, 40 state attorneys general from both parties manifested their opposition to the provision in a letter to Congress. 'The impact of such a broad moratorium would be sweeping and wholly destructive of reasonable state efforts to prevent known harms associated with AI,' they wrote. A Brennan Center analysis found that the moratorium would lead to 149 existing state laws being overturned. 'State regulators are trying to enforce the law to protect their citizens, and they have enacted common sense regulation that's trying to protect the worst kinds of harms that are surfacing up to them from their constituents,' Sarah Meyers West, the co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, a nonprofit that seeks to shape AI to benefit the public, told NBC News. 'They're saying that we need to wait 10 years before protecting people from AI abuses. These things are live. They're affecting people right now,' she said. AI and tech companies like Google and Microsoft have argued that the moratorium is necessary to keep the industry competitive with China. 'There's growing recognition that the current patchwork approach to regulating AI isn't working and will continue to worsen if we stay on this path,' OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, wrote on LinkedIn. 'While not someone I'd typically quote, Vladimir Putin has said that whoever prevails will determine the direction of the world going forward.' 'We cannot afford to wake up to a future where 50 different states have enacted 50 conflicting approaches to AI safety and security,' Fred Humphries, Microsoft's corporate vice president of U.S. government affairs, said in an emailed statement The pro-business lobby Chamber of Commerce released a letter, signed by industry groups like the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the Meat Institute, in support of the moratorium. 'More than 1,000 AI-related bills have already been introduced at the state and local level this year. Without a federal moratorium, there will be a growing patchwork of state and local laws that will significantly limit AI development and deployment,' they wrote. In opposition, a diverse set of 60 civil rights organizations, ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to digital rights groups to the NAACP, have signed their own open letter arguing for states to pass their own AI laws. 'The moratorium could inhibit state enforcement of civil rights laws that already prohibit algorithmic discrimination, impact consumer protection laws by limiting the ability of both consumers and state attorneys general to seek recourse against bad actors, and completely eliminate consumer privacy laws,' the letter reads. The nonprofit National Center on Sexual Exploitation opposed the moratorium on Tuesday, especially highlighting how AI has been used to sexually exploit minors. AI technology is already being used to generate child sex abuse material and to groom and extort minors, said Haley McNamara, the group's senior vice president of strategic initiatives and programs. 'The AI moratorium in the budget bill is a Trojan horse that will end state efforts to rein in sexual exploitation and other harms caused by artificial intelligence. This provision is extremely reckless, and if passed, will lead to further weaponization of AI for sexual exploitation,' McNamara said.
NBC News
4 hours ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Nebraska Republican Don Bacon will not seek re-election to Congress
WASHINGTON — Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who represents a key battleground district, is planning to announce his retirement from Congress, according to two sources familiar with the situation. He is expected to make a formal announcement as soon as next week, when the House is poised to vote on President Donald Trump's sweeping legislation dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill.' Bacon did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night. Punchbowl News first reported his retirement plans. Bacon has represented the state's 2nd Congressional District, which includes much of the Omaha metropolitan area, since 2017 when he defeated his Democratic opponent by less than 5,000 votes. Since then, Bacon has kept the seat in the GOP column but only narrowly emerged victorious in recent elections, including last year when he won by less than 2 percentage points. Bacon's departure will provide Democrats an opportunity to pick up a seat in a district that has shown an appetite for supporting Democratic candidates on the ballot in recent elections. Former Vice President Kamala Harris carried the district by nearly 5 percentage points in 2024 — making Bacon one of just three House Republicans to serve in a district Harris won. Former President Joe Biden won Bacon's district by an even larger margin in 2020. Bacon has been among the more vocal Republican critics of Trump's agenda, sparring with the president at times over his use of tariffs and decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico, and accusing him of treating Russia with "velvet gloves." With his announcement, Bacon will join nearly half a dozen Republicans in the House who have opted against seeking re-election next year. Nine House Democrats also are not seeking re-election to their seats.
India Gazette
6 hours ago
- Business
- India Gazette
"I think we are going to reach a deal with India, we are looking to get a full trade barrier dropping...": Donald Trump
Washington DC [US], June 27 (ANI): US President Donald Trump has expressed optimism about a trade deal with India and said his country is looking for 'full trade barrier dropping which is unthinkable' and that he is not sure that that is going to happen. 'India, I think we are going to reach a deal where we have the right to go and do trade. Right now, it's restricted. You can't walk in there, you can't even think about it. We are looking to get a full trade barrier dropping, which is unthinkable and I am not sure that that is going to happen. But as of this moment, we agree that going to India and trade...' 'We have made a deal with have 200 countries plus,' Trump told reporters here. 'At a certain point over the next week and a half or so, or maybe before we are going to send out a letter and talk to many other countries. We are going to tell them what they have to pay to do business with the US,' he added. He was responding to a query on US reciprocal tariff deadline. Trump said on Thursday (US local time) that America has signed a deal with China and hinted that a 'very big' deal with India will follow soon. Trump made the remarks while speaking at the Big Beautiful Bill event. In his speech hinting towards trade deals, Trump said, 'Everybody wants to make a deal and have a part of it. Remember a few months ago, the press was saying, 'You really have anybody of any interest? Well, we just signed with China yesterday. We are having some great deals. We have one coming up, maybe with India. Very big one. Where we're going to open up India, in the China deal, we are starting to open up China.' Trump asserted that deals will not be made with every other nation. 'We're not going to make deals with everybody. Some we are just going to send them a letter, say thank you very much. You are to pay 25, 35, 45 per cent. That's the easy way to do it, and my people don't want to do it that way. They want to do some of it, but they want to make more deals than I would do,' he said. 'But we're having some great deals. We have one coming up, maybe with India. Very big one. Where we're going to open up India, in the China deal, we're starting to open up China. Things that never really could have happened, and the relationship with every country has been very good' he added. However, Trump did not elaborate on the details of the deal signed with China. Earlier in June, CNN reported that the United States and China reached a new trade agreement, reviving terms first agreed to in Geneva last month, after escalating tensions led to a virtual halt in bilateral trade. Earlier this month, while speaking at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that a trade deal between India and the United States could be finalised soon, with both countries finding common ground that suits their interests. 'I think to be in a very, very good place, and you should expect a deal between the United States and India in the not-too-distant future because I think we found a place that really works for both countries.' When asked if he was hopeful about the outcome, Lutnick said he was 'very optimistic,' and added, 'It could be sort of the way I come across,' he said. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on June 10 that India and the US were in the process of negotiating a fair and equitable trade agreement that will benefit both economies. Addressing a press conference over India-US trade deal and Future trade agreement with the European Union, Piyush Goyal said, 'PM Narendra Modi and US President Trump met in February our leaders have decided to enter into a bilateral trade agreement which will be mutually beneficial for both the economies, businesses on both sides and the people of both countries. We are negotiating to make a nice, fair, equitable and balanced agreement to promote business.' Highlighting that both America and India are 'very close friends, allies and strategic partners', Piyush Goyal said that the trade deal is an opportunity to expand bilateral trade and strengthen the partnership between the two nations. About two weeks remain before the critical July 9 deadline as India and the United States negotiate challenges in finalising their Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) as the 90-day tariff pause period draws to a close. Government sources earlier emphasised that India's national interests will remain paramount in ongoing negotiations, even as both nations work intensively to reach an interim deal before the deadline expires. The negotiations had hit roadblocks, with the US maintaining its demands for substantially reduced duties on American agricultural and dairy products, along with market access for genetically modified (GMO) crops. Indian is apparently not keen on these proposals, citing concerns over food security, environmental protection, and the welfare of its domestic farming sector. (ANI)
Chicago Tribune
7 hours ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Senate Republicans move to slash consumer bureau funding by half, risking hundreds of job cuts
NEW YORK — Senate Republicans have moved to cut the funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by roughly half, as part of President Donald Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' which is likely to lead to hundreds of job cuts at the nation's financial watchdog agency. It would be a major blow to the CFPB, which was created after the 2008 financial crisis to police potential bad actors in the financial services industry, and it would be a win for the GOP, who have largely wanted to make the CFPB go away since its creation. The CFPB is funded through the Federal Reserve, not the congressional appropriations process. But in the latest version of the bill to come out of the Senate Banking Committee, the CFPB's funding would be cut from 12% of the Federal Reserve's profits to 6.5% of the central bank's profits. The CFPB requests its annual budget from the Fed every year, effectively as a line of credit from the central bank. It has never needed the entire 12% of the Fed's profits, but it has come close in previous years to using much of what the Fed would allocate to it. For example, last year the CFPB requested $762.9 million from the Fed, which was close to the transfer cap of $785.4 million. But cutting the transfer cap by roughly half would mean the CFPB would have to cut its budget significantly or seek to supplement its budget from Congress through the traditional appropriations process, a goal that Republicans have been seeking for years. 'The committee's language decreases the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding cap without affecting the statutory functions of the Bureau,' said Sen. Tim Scott, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Under President Joe Biden, the bureau was a potent regulator that often gave banks and other financial services companies headaches on a regular basis. The previous director, Rohit Chopra, used the bureau to look into a broader array of financial services beyond the banks, investigating bad practices at credit card companies, payday lenders, buy now, pay later companies and other financial technology firms. The bureau has returned billions of dollars to consumers since its creation through its enforcement actions. But since Trump came into office, the bureau has been effectively inoperable. Russell Vought, the President's budget director, is currently the acting director of the Bureau and has stopped all enforcement and supervision work, the bureau is not writing new rules or regulations and employees are being told not to communicate with banks or outside parties. Employees are logging in once or twice a day to check emails, but there is little supervisory or enforcement work happening at the bureau. Even emails to the CFPB's press office go unanswered. While the bureau's operations tend to grow and narrow in scope depending on who is in the White House, the current administration seems to want the CFPB entirely eliminated. Under President Trump's first term, the CFPB was still doing enforcement actions and supervisory work, most notably fining Wells Fargo $1 billion for its scandalous sales practices. Even the bureau's most controversial case, involving allegations of discrimination against Black homeowners known as the Townstone Financial case, was started under President Trump's previous CFPB director, Kathy Kraninger. Even Elon Musk, before he left the Trump White House, expressed his opinions about the CFPB by tweeting, 'CFPB RIP.' House Republicans held a hearing on Wednesday attacking Chopra's work, calling the former director and his appointees out-of-control bureaucrats who targeted small businesses vindictively. The CEO of a company labeled by the GOP as a small business — but was basically a chain of check cashing and payday lending shops — testified that she spent years having to go back and forth with the CFPB over its operations. Democrats have vigorously defended the CFPB since its creation, saying that financial services companies need to be closely watched after what happened during the last financial crisis and the fact that many technology companies are moving into banking-like services. The Senate Republicans' move comes after their original proposal to cut the CFPB's budget to zero was ruled in violation of Senate rules by the Senate Parliamentarian. Congressional Republicans are using a process known as 'reconciliation' to pass this bill, which only requires a 51-vote majority in the Senate to pass. This new proposal did pass Parliamentarian muster, but Senate Democrats are expected to fight to remove the provision on the floor. 'Donald Trump and Republicans tried to shut down the CFPB by gutting its entire operating budget to (zero),' said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, and also the original proposer of the CFPB nearly 20 years ago. 'Now, Senate Republicans will bring to the floor a proposal that slashes the agency's available budget so they can hand out more tax breaks for billionaires and billionaire corporations.'
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Report: The conservatives expected to cave on Trump's megabill
By As Congress barrels towards the self-imposed July 4th deadline to pass President Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' some Republicans are vowing a vote against it, potentially tanking the seismic signature legislation of the White House. Insiders on Capitol Hill think they're bluffing - and see most climbing aboard at the last possible moment. 'Most of these guys will eventually cave,' one House GOP aide told the Daily Mail. 'It's not about principles anymore, it's just thirsty members knowing how to get as much attention as possible.' A handful of Republicans in Congress have taken some issue with the current format of Trump's marquee policy agenda, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB). Their bicameral concerns vary from the overregulation of AI , Medicaid cuts, rural hospital funding and deficit reduction. Republican Representatives Chip Roy, Andy Harris, Victoria Spartz and more were named by Capitol Hill sources as those most likely to flip and back the bill despite their noisy opposition. Harris and Roy, for example, threatened to hold up the OBBB in the House before ultimately voting for it in late May. This week, the Trump administration has ramped up the pressure, deploying a slew of social media posts by the president on top of visits from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Capitol Hill. Once the Senate figures out its version and Trump decides to personally apply more pressure, Capitol Hill aides believe the hardheaded opposition will eventually melt away like a popsicle on a summer city sidewalk. 'The biggest bluffers are the Medicaid moderates,' a senior House GOP aide told the Daily Mail, adding that Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska is one of the Republicans most upset by Medicaid reforms. A former Senate GOP aide shared that most lawmakers will choose to avoid the president's wrath when the rubber meets the road. 'Of course most of the holdouts will eventually back President Trump and vote for the bill,' the former aide told the Daily Mail. 'Even though their constituents probably agree with a lot of their objections —they will rightly calculate that the political risk of drawing President Trump's ire or failing to stop huge tax hikes would far outweigh the reward of a protest vote.' The former staffer added: 'President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill will pass, warts and all.' The House passed its version of the OBBB in late May by just a single vote. Multiple Republicans defected at the time and voted against the over 1,000-page bill because it was not conservative enough. According to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the House-passed OBBB framework carries an eye-watering price tag of $2.4 - $2.77 trillion. Though that price is likely to change once the Senate finishes its version of the bill. Reps. Thomas Massie and Warren Davidson were the lone GOPers to vote 'no' on the bill over concerns on how the package will impact the deficit. The bill is now with the Senate, and the tweaks made by GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber have made some House members fume. In addition, the Senate Parliamentarian struck down key Republican provisions in the reconciliation bill, declaring they cannot remain in the bill due to Senate rules. One of those provisions slashed is meant to prevent illegal immigrants from collecting Medicaid - a move that has enraged many House lawmakers, and even prompted many to call for the parliamentarian's removal from her post. There are multiple internal GOP factions currently vying for different additions and cuts to the mega-bill. Many Republican moderates have expressed distaste with deep Medicaid cuts, members of the House Freedom Caucus - a conservative cohort of the lower chamber - are upset with the spending levels and lawmakers in blue states are most concerned with state and local tax (SALT) reforms. 'You have so many [Republicans] trying to inject themselves into the Senate's process by drawing red lines it's laughable,' the senior House GOP aide shared. 'It's true the Senate has had significant setbacks with the parliamentarian, but these House guys' posturing is setting themselves up for a rude awakening.' In the House, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is upset with an AI provision that would hamper states' ability to regulate the nascent tech. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris and Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman, meanwhile, have decried the price tag of the overall bill. 'Chip Roy will for sure,' buckle and vote for the bill under pressure, the GOP House aide shared, adding that Harris would also fold. 'We didn't realize demanding fiscal responsibility, opposing trillion-dollar deficit hikes, and fighting swamp subsidies counted as 'bluffing,"' a source familiar with the HFC chairman responded. New York Republican Nick Lalota has said he's a 'no for now' until SALT reforms are made. Other 'bluffers' who will eventually back the OBBB despite previously voicing doubts include Rep. Victoria Spartz, Tim Burchett, Eric Burlison and Josh Breechen. 'The Senate version, as it stands currently, cuts out many of the key provisions from the House bill that the President wanted,' a spokesperson for Burchett told the Daily Mail. 'The Congressman always votes his conscience, and will continue to do so when it is time to vote on the OBBB.' Still, most House Republicans say they are flexible and are waiting to see the final text passed by the Senate. A crop of upper chamber Republicans are also making a fuss. GOP Sens. Josh Hawley, Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkoswki, Susan Collins and Jerry Moran have all expressed concern over a provider tax provision that could cut funding to rural hospitals. A Senate GOP aide told the Daily Mail Tillis, who faces re-election in 2026, will fold '100 percent.' 'He has to vote for it or else Trump will support a primary challenger,' they added, noting a longstanding feud between Trump and the North Carolina senator. As the Senate continues to finalize its version of the bill, time is running out. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said this week he hopes to have the chamber vote on the OBBB on Saturday, however, it's unclear whether the text of the measure will be ready. Should the Senate pass the bill by then, the House would have to sprint to align itself with all of the changes before July 4th on next Friday.
