White House gives Congress its AI policy wishlist in new legislative framework
The White House gave Congress a six-item framework of legislative policy items related to artificial intelligence on Friday that it believes will deliver “strong federal leadership to ensure the public’s trust in how AI is developed and used in their daily lives.”
The policy items focus on Trump administration priority areas that lawmakers have worked to tackle previously through various legislation: protecting children, safeguarding American communities and small businesses, promoting intellectual property rights, supporting free speech, enabling innovation, and pre-empting state AI laws.
That last item, in particular, has faced a high-profile and tumultuous legislative journey as Republicans have attempted to limit states from setting their own AI laws. Last year, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, championed legislation that would’ve banned states’ abilities to pass AI laws for 10 years, but that measure was decisively shut down by a 99-1 vote.
The White House said Friday in a release that the new framework “can succeed only if it is applied uniformly across the United States. A patchwork of conflicting state laws would undermine American innovation and our ability to lead in the global AI race.”
“The Federal government is uniquely positioned to set a consistent national policy that enables us to win the AI race and deliver its benefits to the American people, while effectively addressing the policy challenges that accompany this transformative technology,” said the White House release. “The Administration looks forward to working with Congress in the coming months to turn this framework into legislation that the President can sign.”
The framework’s publication comes after Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced a draft AI framework that would codify into law President Donald Trump’s December 2025 executive order meant to rein in states’ rights around AI.
Beyond state preemption, the new framework largely looks to strike a balance between light-touch federal regulation in support of innovation and protecting Americans from potential harms related to the technology — from things like censorship, burdensome energy costs and copyright infringement to AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
