House GOP Attempts to Slip AI Preemption Into the NDAA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Republican leaders signaled this week that they may try to include sweeping AI preemption language in the annual National Defense Authorization Act, an effort that would block states from enacting their own AI protections. Earlier this year, a similar attempt to override state AI laws riding along with the Trump administration’s big ugly bill embarrassingly collapsed when an alliance of Democrats, Republicans, social conservatives, parents rights groups, medical professionals, and child online protection groups united to loudly reject the proposal. Renewing the push through the NDAA—a must-pass defense policy bill wholly distinct from tech regulation—is highly inappropriate and would risk stripping away vital civil rights, consumer protection, and safety authority from states without putting any federal guardrails in place.
J.B. Branch, Big Tech accountability advocate at Public Citizen, released the following statement:
“AI preemption strips away the safeguards states have enacted to address the very real harms of AI. Big Tech and its allies have spent months trying to ban states from protecting their own residents, all while refusing to support any meaningful federal AI safeguards.
“Congress should reject this maneuver outright. If lawmakers are serious about AI governance, they must create strong, enforceable national protections as a regulatory floor—not wipe out state laws so Big Tech can operate without consequence.”