Senator Blackburn Pulls Support for AI Moratorium in Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' Amid Backlash

As Congress races to pass President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," it's also sprinting to placate the many haters of the bill's "AI moratorium" provision which originally required a 10-year pause on state AI regulations. The provision, which was championed by White House AI czar and venture capitalist David Sacks, has proved remarkably unpopular with a diverse contingent of lawmakers ranging from 40 state attorneys general to the ultra-MAGA Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Sunday night, Senator Marsha Blackburn and Senator Ted Cruz announced a new version of the AI moratorium, knocking the pause from a full decade down to five years and adding a variety of carve-outs. But after critics attacked the watered-down version of the bill as a "get-out-of-jail free card" for Big Tech, Blackburn reversed course Monday evening. "While I appreciate Chairman Cruz's efforts to find acceptable language that allows states to protect their citizens from the abuses of AI, the current language is not acceptable to those who need these protections the most," Blackburn said in a statement to WIRED.