[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 144 (Monday, September 14, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H5539-H5540]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PENDING RETIREMENT

  (Mr. Subramanyam of Virginia was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I have heard from 
many of my constituents whose Federal retirement benefits are still 
delayed. They have been waiting months for retirement applications that 
are stuck in limbo at Federal agencies.
  Career civil servants who spent decades serving this country are 
waiting to receive the benefits that they have paid into all of these 
years. The delayed timeline not only impacts their financial security, 
but it also breaks the promise we made to civil servants.
  This is another symptom of the impacts of DOGE on the Federal 
Government, including cuts to the H.R. departments that help process 
retirements. Our constituents deserve better after dedicating their 
careers to service.
  Mr. Speaker, I call on this administration to honor the commitment we 
made to civil servants and process these retirements expeditiously.


              using flock cameras for warrantless searches

  Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, imagine if someone followed you around 
everywhere you went with a notepad logging every single one of your 
moves, everywhere you went, and everything you did, and then reported 
that to a private company that sells that data to law enforcement or to 
the highest bidder.

[[Page H5540]]

  That is basically what Flock cameras are. They aren't traffic 
cameras. They use AI to log everywhere you go, everything you do, and 
everywhere you visit; and they build a pattern of life on everyday, 
law-abiding citizens, without a warrant and without consent.
  They are getting installed all over Virginia and all over the 
country. Even my neighborhood, Brambleton, is looking into installing 
them. That means hundreds of thousands of warrantless searches across 
our region without any guardrails.
  It is no surprise that they can and have been abused. More than 50 
law enforcement officers have been accused or charged with misusing 
this technology, and we cannot continue to let this stand. We must put 
safeguards in place now, and we must protect the privacy and civil 
liberties of every single American and prevent unauthorized 
surveillance.
  We need action now.


           building safety throughout ai development process

  Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I sat down with some of the leaders in 
the AI industry. They told me that there were going to be dire 
consequences if we didn't put AI safeguards in place and that there 
would be massive implications for our country and for the world if we 
didn't act.
  That meeting was 10 years ago. I was in the White House as a 
technology policy adviser, and the AI leaders were saying then that we 
needed to act now.
  Here we are today. We have AI frontier models with the capability to 
wreak havoc. We are getting to a place where AI can self-improve and 
duplicate itself. The stuff that was theoretical 10 years ago is now 
happening. We have swarms of AI chatbots working together in a 
Machiavellian way to hack and undermine systems. We must act now.
  There are commonsense ways that security researchers, industry 
experts, and even Members of Congress here agree can make this safer, 
like auditing, information reporting, transparency, building safety 
throughout the AI development process, and real containment strategies, 
so that AI models don't escape their sandbox during development. This 
is common sense, and we need to act now.
  My colleagues and I have already put forward bipartisan legislation, 
like the FRONTIER Act, led by Representatives Obernolte and Trahan, and 
other bills. It is because voluntary standards are not a true 
safeguard, and sitting on the sidelines is not a safeguard. Even 
President Trump, despite what he just said online, is not a safeguard 
for the rapid development of AI and what it can cause.
  We need action now. We need to put legislation on the floor this 
week. We cannot wait until the next Congress.

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