The Valley Chronicle - Congresswomen Luz Rivas and Doris Matsui Lead Colleagues in Opposing Push to Revive AI Moratorium in Defense Spending Bill

By Daniel CONTRIBUTED

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Luz Rivas (CA-29), co-chair of the bi-partisan STEM Education Caucus, and Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-07) led a letter with over 75 members in opposition to any effort to reintroduce a moratorium on state and lo-cal artificial intelligence (AI) laws in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  

“Earlier this year, the Sen-ate rejected this same AI moratorium concept on an overwhelming bipartisan 99–1 vote for H.R. 1, the reconciliation bill,” wrote the lawmakers. “That vote sent a clear, bipartisan message: Congress should not freeze state and local AI safeguards, least of all when there are no meaningful federal protections in place. Trying to revive the same flawed policy  in the NDAA, or through executive action, is an at-tempt to quietly jam through an idea that has already been rejected, as well as sidestep-ping public debate and by-passing the regular commit-tee process.”

The lawmakers emphasized that these new attempts come at a moment of increased AI-usage and growing bi-partisan public demand for safe, trustworthy AI development. States across the country, led by both Democrats and Republicans, are creating guardrails to protect consumers, workers, children, and vulnerable com-munities without hindering innovation. Blocking those safeguards now would leave Americans exposed to escalating risks, erode public trust, and undermine U.S. competitiveness.

“This proposal is not only dangerous, but it is also un-popular,” the lawmakers continued. “The American people reject it, state leaders reject it, and experts reject it.”

“The American people want AI to be used in ways that are safe, fair, and accountable. They want innovation they can trust, not a rush to strip away all safeguards,” the law-makers concluded.