[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 3, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3193-S3194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          AI Civil Rights Act

  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the critical need 
for regulation of artificial intelligence.
  This work period, the Senate is poised to take up the House's 
reconciliation package, a disastrous proposal that strips healthcare 
away from tens of millions of Americans and dismantles our country's 
clean energy revolution, all to deliver tax cuts to billionaires.
  But buried nearly 300 pages into this bill is something quite 
shocking: a blanket, 10-year ban on States and local governments from 
regulating artificial intelligence. That is right. Rather than 
proposing any plan to address the risk of this powerful and fast-
evolving technology, my Republican colleagues have chosen to block the 
States and to block local governments from acting. They don't want to 
do anything, but they want to block anyone else from acting as well.
  They would tie the hands of Governors and tie the hands of State 
legislators who are stepping up to protect their constituents from the 
unchecked harms of AI, without any plan of their own to regulate these 
technologies here in Congress.
  In fact, just this morning, 260 State lawmakers--half Republicans and 
half Democrats--from all 50 States, sent a letter to Congress opposing 
any provision which can block them from acting to protect their 
citizens. And just a few weeks ago, 40 State attorneys general sent a 
similar letter to congressional leaders urging Congress to reject the 
10-year moratorium.
  These State leaders are right. This provision would be devastating 
for our country.
  The broad preemption language could prevent States from prohibiting 
social media platforms from targeting teenage girls with ads for 
dangerous weight-loss drugs, enacting commonsense protections against 
algorithms that unjustly deny a senior citizen medical care, and 
safeguarding workers from discriminatory hiring practices driven by 
biased AI tools.
  One expert warned that the language is so sweeping that it could 
undermine contract law and break the internet itself.
  Let me be clear. This is a recipe to repeat the failures from the 
last decade--failures driven by our failure to hold Big Tech 
accountable for its abuses.
  How has that worked out for us? Well, today, thanks to our failure to 
regulate Big Tech, we have a privacy crisis, a youth mental health 
crisis, and a teenage mental health crisis in our country, and the 
Surgeon General of the United States points the finger at social media 
as a major part of the problem that we have with teenage and youth 
mental health issues in our country.
  Thankfully, in the face of Federal inaction, States have led. States 
have stood up. They have moved to protect young people online, secure 
consumer privacy, and confront algorithmic bias.
  But this provision that snuck into this bill that we are going to 
consider over the next month--this provision snuck in the bill--would 
erase that

[[Page S3194]]

progress. It would roll back years of hard-won protections and prevent 
future action, just when it is needed the most, just when it is 
becoming very clear to the entire country that there is a sinister side 
to cyberspace, as well as a good side. Yes, we want it to do wonderful 
things in our society, but we also know that it can cause great harm as 
well.
  So instead of shutting down State leadership, instead of shutting 
down State legislators and shutting down Governors across the Nation 
who want to work on this issue, Congress itself should step up to start 
to put the protections in place for our entire Nation. We must pass 
legislation that confronts the real harms of artificial intelligence, 
while ensuring that the United States remains the leader on this 
important and promising technology.
  We want to reap the benefits of AI. We want to have AI be used across 
our society, but we also want to protect against the harmful effects of 
AI if it is put in the wrong hands to be used for the wrong purposes.
  That is why I authored the AI Civil Rights Act, the most 
comprehensive AI legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress, which 
ensures that artificial intelligence serves the public good, not 
private profit exclusively. The bill would ensure that the AI age does 
not supercharge the bias and discrimination already prevalent today.
  Specifically, my legislation establishes new rules when companies use 
algorithms to make decisions on jobs, on housing, on healthcare, on 
banking, on the criminal justice system, and other important aspects of 
our lives.
  The AI Civil Rights Act is a balanced approach that requires 
companies to detect and address bias in their algorithmic decisions 
without stifling innovation.
  Make no mistake, we can have an AI revolution while also protecting 
the civil rights and liberties of everyday Americans. We can support 
innovation without supercharging the tracking and targeting of young 
people online. We can promote competition while safeguarding our 
environment.
  But with their blanket, 10-year ban on State AI regulation, 
Republicans are choosing a sledgehammer over a scalpel. They are 
choosing Big Tech over kids, families, seniors, and disadvantaged 
communities across this country.
  We cannot allow this to happen. I am committed to fighting this 10-
year ban with every tool at my disposal, and that is by ensuring that 
it is going to be clear that this 10-year ban on State AI regulation is 
a policy change that has no impact on the Federal budget.
  What does that mean if this provision that has been stuck in this 
bill has no impact on the Federal budget? Here is what it means: It 
means that that provision cannot be included in a reconciliation bill.
  If Senate Republicans keep the House language in their reconciliation 
bill, I will raise a point of order against it. I will raise a point of 
order saying that it is in violation of our rules that this kind of a 
change can be built into this legislation.
  When my Republican colleagues are ready to have a serious 
conversation about AI regulation, my door is wide open. We should be 
discussing this on a bipartisan basis. But this backdoor AI moratorium, 
it is not serious. This backdoor moratorium is not responsible. This 
backdoor moratorium is not acceptable. There is too much at stake.
  We can't say for 10 years there is no regulation at the State level 
if they can see harms that are being committed. They must have the 
right to be able to legislate. And there is one way for us to avoid it, 
of course. We could legislate. We could pass national legislation. But 
at this point, I still see no appetite on the Republican side for that 
to even commence as a serious discussion.
  So with that, I just want to put the Senate on notice that I am going 
to raise a point of order if, in fact, this AI moratorium on any State 
legislation remains in the bill.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HICKENLOOPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.