Republican governors ask Senate to nix AI moratorium from 'One Big Beautiful Bill'

A group of 17 Republican governors on Friday sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, asking him to remove a moratorium enforcing state and local artificial intelligence laws from the Senate's version of the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill."

The governors are not the first Republicans to oppose the moratorium; Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed she was not aware of the 10-year moratorium in the House's version of the bill when she voted in favor of it and said she would have changed her vote because it violates states' rights.

The governors appeared to support Greene's interpretation, arguing it would undo their efforts to protect citizens from potential harm the technology could cause, according to Politico. Several Senate Republicans also oppose the moratorium. 

“While the legislation overall is very strong, there is one small portion of it that threatens to undo all the work states have done to protect our citizens from the misuse of artificial intelligence,” the governors wrote. “We are writing to encourage congressional leadership to strip this provision from the bill before it goes to President Trump’s desk for his signature.”

The letter was signed by the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming.

Greene warned in a statement earlier this month that the current language could tie states' hands if artificial intelligence becomes dangerous in the future, and urged the Senate to pull the section.

"We have no idea what AI will be capable of in the next 10 years and giving it free rein and tying states hands is potentially dangerous," Greene wrote on X. "We should be reducing federal power and preserving state power. Not the other way around. Especially with rapidly developing AI that even the experts warn they have no idea what it may be capable of."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.