Congress Punts on AI Regulation as House Adjourns, Senate Bill Stalls

The House of Representatives adjourned Wednesday, leaving Washington without action on artificial intelligence regulation until at least after November's midterm elections, while a separate Senate bid to curb data center utility costs collapsed the following day under Democratic objections.

The dual failures underscore how deeply the politics of AI have fractured Congress even as industry executives have pressed lawmakers for oversight frameworks.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., cancelled the chamber's planned Thursday session and sent members home to campaign, telling reporters Wednesday: "It's time for our members to go home to their districts and make their case to the American people." Johnson appeared to place responsibility on the Senate, which remains in session for another two weeks, to advance any legislation.

The Speaker's decision drew sharp criticism from Democrats and some Republicans who wanted the chamber to remain in Washington. Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., who led 107 Democrats in a letter to Johnson on Tuesday demanding the House stay to work on AI legislation, offered a pointed assessment of the moment.

"At least Nero had the good grace to stay in town while he was fiddling when Rome was burning," Liccardo told CNBC. "This Congress is heading for the hills to go back and campaign for reelection."

The push for regulation has grown louder after top AI executives from Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI urged Congress to regulate them, following the resignation of an Anthropic researcher who claimed the technology "could kill us all by the end of the decade." President Donald Trump has called such reported threats a "hoax" and has aggressively opposed restrictive AI regulations, arguing that moving too quickly could benefit China in the competition for AI dominance — a concern Johnson echoed earlier in the week.

Among the measures advocates have pushed is the Frontier Act, sponsored by Reps. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Lori Trahan, D-Mass. The bill would require third-party auditors to verify that AI labs are operating safely, introduce new transparency requirements, and allow the Commerce Department to suspend or restrict a developer's model if it poses an "imminent catastrophic risk." Obernolte told reporters after Wednesday's votes: "The urgency of the moment requires action by Congress before the end of the year."

Separately on Thursday, an attempt by Senate Republicans to pass the Ratepayer Protection Act — a bipartisan bill aimed at preventing AI data center operators from passing infrastructure costs onto consumers — collapsed after Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., blocked a unanimous consent request from the bill's sponsor, Sen. John Husted, R-Ohio.

The House had passed the legislation on Wednesday night by an overwhelming 417-3 vote, with only Reps. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Delia Ramirez of Illinois, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan voting against it.

The bill would establish a voluntary regulatory framework allowing states to require AI data centers demanding 100 megawatts or more of electricity to cover the costs of new power sources, transmission lines, and related infrastructure, rather than billing those costs to local ratepayers. "America's expected to build the equivalent of 1,000 major data centers during the next five years," Husted said on the Senate floor, "with more than 2,000 projects currently being proposed or tracked."

Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, argued the voluntary structure lacked sufficient force. "It's not enough to tell states to consider making data centers pay for grid updates," he said. "Rather than voluntary pledges or suggestions to states, Congress needs to pass real legislation with real teeth." He promoted his own alternative, the GRID Savings Act of 2026, which would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rulemaking authority over facilities demanding 150 megawatts or more.

With the Senate set to leave Washington in two weeks, Heinrich's objection makes it effectively certain that neither measure will reach the president's desk before the election.

The midterms, now less than seven weeks away, will determine control of Congress for the remainder of Trump's term — leaving the trajectory of AI regulation, and who pays for the infrastructure that powers it, largely unresolved heading into the final stretch of the campaign season.