As President Trump is preparing this week to release an executive order that aims to block states from regulating artificial intelligence, congressional Democrats are countering with a new commission to deepen their engagement with the industry.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) today announced the new “House Democratic Commission on AI and the Innovation Economy,” which will be co-chaired by Reps. Ted Lieu (Calif.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), and Valerie Foushee (N.C.), with Reps. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.) and Frank Pallone (N.J.) serving as ex officio co-chairs. According to Jeffries, the commission will “develop policy expertise in partnership with the innovation community, relevant stakeholders and committees of jurisdiction.”
The panel’s leaders rank among the House Democrats with the deepest ties to Big Tech and AI, from holding millions of dollars in tech stock to the contributions they’ve raised for their campaigns and the Republican-backed deregulation bills they've signed onto.
For example, in July, Gottheimer helped to introduce the Unleashing AI Innovation in Financial Services Act (H.R. 4801) alongside Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) that would require financial regulators to create “AI Innovation Labs” where firms could experiment with AI-driven financial products under looser regulations and without the normal threats of enforcement actions.
Lofgren, who is the second-largest recipient of money from the Internet industry all-time among current House Democrats, has also partnered with Republicans on AI legislation.
