{"id":1984,"date":"2026-06-05T06:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1984"},"modified":"2026-06-05T06:34:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:34:47","slug":"a-massachusetts-democrat-negotiated-an-ai-bill-with-a-republican-it-ignited-a-political-firestorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1984","title":{"rendered":"A Massachusetts Democrat negotiated an AI bill with a Republican. It ignited a political firestorm."},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>WASHINGTON \u2014 As Democratic Representative Lori Trahan worked to craft a bipartisan bill on artificial intelligence with a Republican colleague, the resistance was fierce and swift \u2014 from her own side of the aisle. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1982\">Quotes about slavery, immigrants, and war memorials slated for removal from Bunker Hill historic site<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>The Westford representative and her Republican counterpart on Thursday unveiled the proposal, which would impose safety requirements on developers of AI, the result of weeks of negotiations. But the release did little to mute criticism of the bill, and her involvement in it, illustrating the heightened politics of the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Tech safety groups and some state political leaders have been trying to convince Trahan to abandon the talks, arguing it undermines efforts at the state level to regulate the rapidly advancing technology on issues such as child safety and civil rights. The spat has turned bitter and gone public in recent days, with a group that pushes AI regulation launching ads in Massachusetts this week attacking Trahan for allegedly backing \u201cAI oligarchs\u201d and jeopardizing kids. The Democratic AI caucus made clear on Thursday it doesn\u2019t  support her effort. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Trahan has pushed back, saying that the rapid pace of AI development and the potential for its dangerous use is too urgent for Congress to ignore, and that her bill would not hamper state legislation in the way the groups are arguing. Though it lacks broad Democratic backing, House Republican leadership has supported the talks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The episode has illustratedtheintense politics of AI. Backed by huge political spending on both sides of the issue, groups and politicians have sought to convince an increasingly skeptical public that they are on the right side of the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Trahan, a member of House Democratic leadership and the Progressive Caucus, joined California Republican Jay Obernolte, who has been taking the lead on AI issues for House Republicans in . They also had two colleagues from each party sign on. The bill would formalize a federal AI oversight agency, impose transparency, audit, and safety reporting requirements on AI development, and collect data on workforce impacts of AI. It is comparable to the three leading state laws regulating AI development in California, New York, and one recently passed in Illinois, . <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But the most controversial element of the bill is the provision that would prevent states from regulating AI developmentbeyond the federal requirements for three years. Critics say this provision would block states from passing child safety laws or other restrictions that could be stronger than the federal bill. That is what fueled the ads against Trahan this week, which were produced by Americans for Responsible Innovation, a nonprofit that advocates for AI safety regulation. A separate nonprofit, Tech Oversight Project, organized a group of left-aligned organizations, including the American Federation of Teachers and Greenpeace, to  last month urging her to back out. They also  in her district (a poll that tends to shape public sentiment more than measure it) characterizing the bill as \u201cweaken(ing) potentially life-saving AI guardrails.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Trahan currently has no opponent in the Democratic primary and was unopposed in the general election in 2024. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Opponents argue the bill doesn\u2019t go beyond what companies already have to do at the state level, while imposing the restrictions on further regulation that were sought by Republicans and big tech. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cShe\u2019s doing the bidding of Silicon Valley but not actually increasing safety and at the same time doing their bidding by preempting all these state laws that could protect labor, child safety, etc,\u201d said Brad Carson, a former Oklahoma congressman who runs Americans for Responsible Innovation. \u201cWhat kind of tradeoff is she getting here? It doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A group of House Democrats tapped by their leadership to negotiate on AI bills put out a statement Thursday distancing themselves from Trahan\u2019s effort, pointing to the opposition from outside advocacy groups. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1980\">Graham Platner to hold Maine rally with Representative Ro Khanna as scandals shake up campaign<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhile we appreciate the bipartisan effort . . . their proposed discussion draft on AI does not meet the enormity of the moment,\u201d the group said in a statement. \u201cThis document cannot serve as the basis for productive dialogue.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Authors of the bill point to draft language that would explicitly allow states to continue to regulate AI in its use and deployment, saying that leaves room for additional legislation, and note they are soliciting feedback before formally introducing the bill for consideration in the House. Trahan argues that even with state laws, Congress has to act to create a federal safety standard for new AI models. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThis is the first serious bipartisan attempt to put real guardrails on frontier AI before the technology outpaces us,\u201c Trahan said in an interview. \u201cThe choice isn\u2019t between regulation and innovation. It\u2019s between getting ahead of the risks now or scrambling to catch up after the damage is done, and the red line is clear, states keep their authority to protect their own residents from AI harms at the deployment and the use stage. Nothing in this bill stops that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Some legal analysts have split over the extent the legislation would preempt state laws. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But Trahan\u2019s entry into the fray has been a political test case of the fraught politics of AI. The public has grown increasingly concerned about the role of AI in everyday life, including the impact of unpopular data centers on communities. There are numerous proposals from politicians, including a proposed moratorium on data centers from Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, proposals to tax AI such as one from Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, and one taxing tech from Newton Representative Jake Auchincloss. None have momentum to pass at the moment. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A deluge of political money has accompanied the interest from the public and politicians, including to a heated New York congressional Democratic primary involving a pro-AI-regulation candidate. A super PAC linked to founders of the AI company OpenAI, Leading the Future, has raised tens of millions of dollars that it is already directing to pro-AI candidates. But OpenAI\u2019s rival Anthropic, whose founders also have personal feuds with its executives, has given millions to support AI regulation, including to a separate PAC also run by Carson, of the group attacking Trahan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Cooper Teboe, a Silicon Valley-based Democrat strategist who advises donors and candidates, pointed to tech-backed candidates losing big in several races in California\u2019s primary this week as an example of how pro-tech political spending can increasingly backfire. He would advise candidates to not risk appearing to be linked to big tech or allow it to spend money on their behalf.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe numbers are very clear,\u201d Teboe said. \u201cPeople hate data centers. People are a little bit uncertain on the future of AI, but they don\u2019t think it looks good. The [antiregulation] non-safety folks are fighting an incredibly uphill battle, and . . . I actually think that the more involved they are, the more they\u2019re hurting themselves. I think money\u2019s gonna have a really adverse impact.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Asked why she\u2019s sticking her neck out on such a politically intense issue, Trahan pointed to how offshoring hollowed out manufacturing in her Lowell-area district. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI am unwilling to sit here and allow something as transformative as AI wreak havoc without any guardrails on my watch,\u201d Trahan said. \u201cThe alternative right now is sort of playing out \u2014 the largest, most powerful, mostly private companies, they\u2019re going to create the rules of the road if we don\u2019t engage, and engage early.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1978\">US employers likely added 105,000 jobs in May with labor market stable despite costly Iran war<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The backlash against Trahan is an illustration the intense politics of AI. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Massachusetts Democrat negotiated an AI bill with a Republican. 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