Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) is, per her spokesperson, “spearheading the negotiation with the White House to finalize legislative text of an AI preemption package,” Axios and The Hill reported June 8 and 9. The Trump White House wants the bill done before August recess, and the choice of vehicle matters: it isn’t the bipartisan House draft released four days earlier.

The Senate package, as described by Axios and The Hill, bundles preemption with the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act, the NO FAKES Act, and age verification requirements. Blackburn’s office is careful about what’s being offered, calling it “subject-matter preemption,” not “blanket preemption of all laws regulating AI or child safety.” A White House official added the usual gloss: “The White House continues to proactively engage across government and industry.”

Meanwhile, the Great American AI Act, the 269-page discussion draft released June 4 by Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), with Subramanyam, Franklin, Peters, and Houchin, takes a different route. It preempts state laws specifically regulating the development of frontier models for three years, leaves use and deployment alone, and routes oversight through the Center for AI Standards and Innovation. Developers above $500 million in revenue would publish risk frameworks. Per Trahan’s office, California’s AB 2013 and part of SB 942 would be preempted; frontier safety laws in California, New York and Illinois would be “federalized.”

Brad Carson of Americans for Responsible Innovation called the preemption a “generational mistake.”

Last year’s preemption attempts collapsed in both chambers under pressure from state lawmakers and advocacy groups. What’s changed isn’t the politics of preemption. It’s that Blackburn now gives the White House a Senate sponsor willing to package it with bills the building already wants.

Sources

Sources