The Senate’s parliamentarian (i.e. rules referee) has allowed the Republicans to include in the Budget Reconciliation Bill a 10-year moratorium on enforcing state and local AI laws. For background, Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) rewrote a House-passed AI moratorium to try to comply with the chamber’s budgetary rules. Senator Cruz’s version tied compliance with the moratorium to eligibility for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program funding—a $42 billion federal broadband investment. Both parties made their arguments before the parliamentarian on 19 June. On 21 June, the Senate Parliamentarian determined that the proposed moratorium survived procedural scrutiny — known as the Byrd Rule — and will remain in the bill. This ruling effectively shields the moratorium provision from a filibuster hurdle and allows it to advance through the budget reconciliation process with a simple majority vote. The path forward for the AI moratorium is now procedurally clear, pending broader negotiations over the bill’s contents.
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