The moratorium was defeated by a 99-1 vote
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, The Tech Oversight Project issued the following statement after the AI moratorium was defeated and ultimately removed from the Senate’s budget reconciliation package. The amendment, led by Senator Marsha Blackburn and Senator Maria Cantwell, to strike the moratorium from the underlying bill was passed in a lopsided, bipartisan 99-1 vote.
“Last night’s vote was the latest evidence that when tech measures are brought to a vote, Congress will overwhelmingly choose to take on Big Tech’s biggest harms. The tech lobby presented Congress with a false choice: safety or global competitiveness, and the Senate did not take the bait,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of The Tech Oversight Project. “We thank Senator Marsha Blackburn and Senator Maria Cantwell for their leadership and applaud Republican and Democratic leaders around the country for their advocacy. While the underlying bill remains deeply flawed, we are glad the many states that have worked to hold Big Tech accountable will not see their hard work eliminated, and their constituents will not see their protections taken away.”