Senate Drops AI Moratorium From Big Beautiful Bill

The Senate has voted 99 to 1 to drop the proposed AI regulation moratorium from President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, clearing the way for the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act (TRAIGA).

The moratorium would have rendered AI measures implemented by states impossible to enforce without sacrificing federal funding. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, previously altered the language of the bill to dodge the Byrd Rule with a provision that would deny states attempting to regulate AI federal funding from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

Despite originally championing the provision, Cruz voted against it after Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, pulled her support.

The moratorium posed severe consequences for Texas regardless of the state’s position, either forcing Texas to relinquish federal BEAD funding or concede all of the progress made on AI regulation during the 89th Legislature, including TRAIGA.

TRAIGA’s author, state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-98, reacted positively to the news on X, calling the vote to strike the provision “a huge win for responsible AI.“

“The Senate just voted overwhelmingly to reject a moratorium on state AI laws — a huge win for responsible AI,” Capriglione’s post reads. “America will lead the AI race — and do it the right way.”

A day before the vote, state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-8, sent a letter to Cruz and Texas Sen. John Cornyn urging them to remove the moratorium provision, citing TRAIGA and the work done by the Texas Legislature to regulate AI as important safeguards for the state’s infrastructure.

“AI this powerful could be misused or even weaponized by our adversaries around the world, who might use it to attack our critical infrastructure in Texas through sophisticated cyber attacks,” Paxton’s letter reads. “Local communities and state governments are the first responders to such incidents, and it is imperative that states maintain their ability to pass laws to prepare accordingly.”

Brendan Steinhauser, CEO of The Alliance for Secure AI and a native Texan, echoed Paxton’s sentiments in a statement to Industry Insider — Texas, arguing that local first responders, community leaders and government officials require the ability to both prepare for and defend states from potential cyber attacks.

“If there’s a big cyber attack or a physical attack in this country due to some kind of AI weapon, then those are the people that are going to be on the front lines,” said Steinhauser. “They need the tools at their disposal to be able to defend against those attacks and they need to understand how the technology works. They need to be able to recommend limits and limitations on advanced AI.”