Latest news with #Lummis'
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Senator Seeks to Waive U.S. Taxes on Small-Scale Crypto Activity in Big Budget Bill
U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis is seeking to slip a significant crypto tax measure into the massive budget bill that backs much of President Donald Trump's agenda, trying to reduce tax consequences stemming from fundamental cryptocurrency activities. Lummis sought on Monday to insert language into Congress' "Big Beautiful Bill" that would, among other things, waive taxes on small crypto transactions below $300 and would — in the industry's view — rationalize a tax approach that currently has people hit for taxes on both the front end and back end of activity at the heart of the sector's inner workings: staking and digital assets mining. The idea of making small transactions tax-free (capped at $5,000 in overall transactions each year) would eliminate much of the burden of working out capital gains for people who only engage in a small amount of digital assets activity. That could clear a lot of headaches for those who've been hesitant to try crypto, the industry contends. The amendment pushed by Lummis, which hasn't yet come up for a vote, also addresses tax issues with crypto lending, wash sales and charitable contributions. As the Digital Chamber put it on Monday, the move on mining, staking and other ways of gaining crypto assets would repair "a long overdue mistake on how these rewards are treated for tax purposes.""Today, staking and block rewards are taxed upon both acquisition and point of sale," the U.S. crypto lobbying group argued, pushing its constituents to petition Congress for support. "Senator Lummis' provision solves this by taxing rewards only when sold, aligning policy with actual income." So-called validators in a blockchain are given rewards for staking their assets, providing them a return for otherwise locking up their cryptocurrency. It's taxed when they receive the rewards and on the gains when they sell those assets. Industry critics of this approach are pushing for the change to a system that would instead tax the assets only upon their eventual sale. Crypto mining works in much the same way, with assets created in the digital mining process and then later sold. Assets gained from aidrops and forks would also get the same treatment under Lummis' amendment, getting taxed only when they're ultimately sold. The amendment might also address the wash-trading loophole lawmakers have sought for years to close. Under current rules, crypto investors can conduct a "tax-loss harvesting" strategy through strategically selling investments at a loss and immediately re-purchasing them. The hard-fought Senate process has been going through an unlimited amendment process known as a "vote-a-rama" which began Monday morning, and Lummis sought to toss this amendment into the mix. The stakes are high for congressional Republicans on the wide-reaching bill, but party leaders have struggled to keep all of their members in the yes column as Democrats unite against it, taking issue with potential cuts to Medicaid, green energy initiatives and other aspects of the nearly 1,000-page legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives barely passed its own version of the spending bill last month, and it would have to do so again if the Senate approves it with changes. Analysis of the measure concluded its provisions could add more than $3 trillion to the U.S. budget deficit. UPDATE (July 1, 2025, 00:35 UTC): Adds tweet. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New GOP bill would protect AI companies from lawsuits if they offer transparency
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., is introducing legislation Thursday that would shield artificial intelligence developers from an array of civil liability lawsuits provided they meet certain disclosure requirements. Lummis' bill, the Responsible Innovation and Safe Expertise Act, seeks to clarify that doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, engineers and other professionals who use AI programs in their decision-making retain legal liability for any errors they make — so long as AI developers publicly disclose how their systems work. 'This legislation doesn't create blanket immunity for AI — in fact, it requires AI developers to publicly disclose model specifications so professionals can make informed decisions about the AI tools they choose to utilize,' Lummis, a member of the Commerce Committee, said in a statement first shared with NBC News. 'It also means that licensed professionals are ultimately responsible for the advice and decisions they make. This is smart policy for the digital age that protects innovation, demands transparency, and puts professionals and their clients first.' Lummis' office touted the bill as the first piece of federal legislation that offers clear guidelines for AI liability in a professional context. The measure would not govern liability for other AI elements, such as self-driving vehicles, and it would not provide immunity when AI developers act recklessly or willfully engage in misconduct. 'AI is transforming industries — medicine, law, engineering, finance — and becoming embedded in professional tools that shape critical decisions,' her office said in a release. 'But outdated liability rules discourage innovation, exposing developers to unbounded legal risk even when trained professionals are using these tools.' Exactly who is liable when AI is used in sensitive medical, legal or financial situations is a bit of a gray area, with some states seeking to enact their own standards. The House-passed 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' which is advancing through Congress and supported by President Donald Trump, includes a provision that would ban states from enacting any AI regulations for 10 years. Senate Republicans last week proposed changing the provision to instead block federal funding for broadband projects to states that regulate AI. Both Democratic and Republican state officials have criticized the effort to prohibit state-level regulations over the next decade, while AI executives have argued that varying state laws would stifle industry growth when the United States is in stiff competition with countries like China. This article was originally published on
NBC News
12-06-2025
- Business
- NBC News
New GOP bill would protect AI companies from lawsuits if they offer transparency
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., is introducing legislation Thursday that would shield artificial intelligence developers from an array of civil liability lawsuits provided they meet certain disclosure requirements. Lummis' bill, the Responsible Innovation and Safe Expertise Act, seeks to clarify that doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, engineers and other professionals who use AI programs in their decision-making retain legal liability for any errors they make — so long as AI developers publicly disclose how their systems work. 'This legislation doesn't create blanket immunity for AI — in fact, it requires AI developers to publicly disclose model specifications so professionals can make informed decisions about the AI tools they choose to utilize,' Lummis, a member of the Commerce Committee, said in a statement first shared with NBC News. 'It also means that licensed professionals are ultimately responsible for the advice and decisions they make. This is smart policy for the digital age that protects innovation, demands transparency, and puts professionals and their clients first.' Lummis' office touted the bill as the first piece of federal legislation that offers clear guidelines for AI liability in a professional context. The measure would not govern liability for other AI elements, such as self-driving vehicles, and it would not provide immunity when AI developers act recklessly or willfully engage in misconduct. 'AI is transforming industries — medicine, law, engineering, finance — and becoming embedded in professional tools that shape critical decisions,' her office said in a release. 'But outdated liability rules discourage innovation, exposing developers to unbounded legal risk even when trained professionals are using these tools.' Exactly who is liable when AI is used in sensitive medical, legal or financial situations is a bit of a gray area, with some states seeking to enact their own standards. The House-passed 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' which is advancing through Congress and supported by President Donald Trump, includes a provision that would ban states from enacting any AI regulations for 10 years. Senate Republicans last week proposed changing the provision to instead block federal funding for broadband projects to states that regulate AI. Both Democratic and Republican state officials have criticized the effort to prohibit state-level regulations over the next decade, while AI executives have argued that varying state laws would stifle industry growth when the United States is in stiff competition with countries like China.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Legislation aims to jump-start rollout of driverless vehicles
WASHINGTON — New legislation introduced in the Senate attempts to spring the U.S. Department of Transportation into regulatory action that will lead to commercial rollout of driverless cars and trucks. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have initiated rulemakings to establish a regulatory framework for driverless cars and trucks but have yet to issue final rules. 'For nearly a decade, Washington has talked about autonomous vehicles without meaningful action,' remarked Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., when she introduced her bill, the Autonomous Vehicle Advancement Act of 2025, earlier this month. 'This legislation cuts through the red tape and establishes a clear path forward for getting safe autonomous vehicles on American roads where they can save lives, create jobs, and maintain our technological leadership. Wyoming is a highway state and ensuring that autonomous vehicles are integrated in the safest way possible remains my number one priority.'The bill specifies two components for advancing autonomous vehicles: Require the secretary of transportation to address autonomous vehicle certification challenges identified in a 2016 federal report by the Volpe Center, a research arm of DOT. Establish a comprehensive road map for achieving commercially viable Level 4 and Level 5 vehicles – those that are equipped with self-driving systems that require minimal to no human intervention. The purpose of the report cited in Lummis' bill was to 'identify instances where the existing Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards may pose challenges to the introduction of automated vehicles,' according to the report's abstract. 'It identifies standards requiring further review – both to ensure that existing regulations do not unduly stifle innovation and to help ensure that automated vehicles perform their functions safely.' The report also considered the concept of truck platooning, technology that allows autonomous trucks to follow each other in close formation to reduce drag and improve fuel economy.'What's encouraging is that we're seeing a convergence of regulatory and technological readiness both at the federal and state levels to unlock safe deployment,' Earl Adams, VP of public policy and regulatory affairs at Plus, a developer of driverless trucks, told FreightWaves in an email seeking comment on the Lummis proposal. 'The bipartisan support for a safety-case-based approach is laying a solid foundation for AV adoption. The industry is ready to meet the challenge, but it's critical that we keep pushing for a national framework to ensure consistent rules across all states.' Driverless-truck lobby urges federal action toward full autonomy Regulators deny roadside warning exemption for autonomous trucks FMCSA proposes new requirements for driverless trucks Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher. The post Legislation aims to jump-start rollout of driverless vehicles appeared first on FreightWaves.
