Tech: House GOP leaders on AI next steps

House GOP AI task force issues road map, demands federal spending freeze

Sarah Mills | GlobalBeat

House Republican leaders unveiled a 125-page task-force report on artificial-intelligence regulation and demanded a one-year halt on federal funding of new AI systems.

The report, dated May 13, calls the moratorium essential until agencies adopt security protocols and Congress enacts a national privacy standards bill.

The recommendations arrive as agencies accelerate AI procurement and lawmakers in both parties advance separate bills. Republican leaders said the planned spending surge lacks guardrails.

House GOP AI task force members told reporters the federal government will deploy more than 1,400 new AI tools by 2026 at a projected cost exceeding $4.4 billion.

“Our agencies are buying systems now that handle asylum files, student-loan data and medical records without clear rules,” Rep. Jay Obernolte, the California Republican who chairs the 24-member panel, said during a press briefing in the Capitol.

The report outlines a six-step framework: publish use-case inventories, require impact assessments, designate senior AI officers, harden procurement contracts, grant inspectors general audit rights and set criminal penalties for algorithmic discrimination.

Republicans want the Office of Management and Budget to withhold procurement funds from agencies that skip those steps. They also propose to cut AI contracts by 15% annually until audits show compliance.

The task force stopped short of endorsing a licensing regime sought by some Senate Democrats but urged Congress to give the Federal Trade Commission authority to fine developers that release unsafe models, Obernolte said.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee called the report “an excuse to freeze progress” and warned it would cede advantages to China. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia said House GOP AI leaders “offer slogans, not solutions.”

Connolly said agencies already follow 2020 guidelines set by the Trump administration and that a pause would disrupt veterans’ health records modernization.

The GOP plan revives a provision House Republicans inserted in the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that barred the Pentagon from fielding AI-enabled logistics software until test audits were completed, according to congressional aides.

Defense officials said the restriction delayed the rollout of an Army system that predicts helicopter maintenance needs, a claim Republicans disputed, citing a Government Accountability Office finding of insufficient risk review.

Business groups reacted coolly. Technology trade group NetChoice said the spending freeze “would hamstring agencies trying to modernize.” The Chamber of Commerce said new criminal statutes should wait until courts interpret existing discrimination laws.

Privacy advocates welcomed the call for a unified national standard but warned House GOP AI authors skirted biometric surveillance limits. Caitriona Fitzgerald of the Electronic Privacy Information Center said proposed fines “must reach 4% of global revenue to matter.”

White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said President Joe Biden would review the report but “won’t accept proposals that gut needed investments.” Patterson said the administration’s October 2023 AI executive order already requires safety testing.

Obernolte said he met last week with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, both of whom “expressed support for bringing key sections to the floor.” He said he expected committee mark-ups by July.

Background

Congress has struggled for 3 years to write cross-chamber AI rules despite warnings from U.S. intelligence officials that Beijing integrates the technology into military planning and that domestic agencies lack testing standards.

House GOP AI efforts began after the November 2022 release of ChatGPT, when Republican leadership created a panel modeled on the party’s 2020 China task force. The group held 9 hearings and reviewed more than 300 agency AI use cases.

What’s Next

Obernolte said he will introduce a bill codifying the spending moratorium before the August recess, teeing up a floor vote this fall. Separately, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans June briefings on his own AI proposal, setting up a partisan clash.

The report’s publication places AI regulation at the center of the 2024 appropriations fight, with House GOP AI members threatening to withhold spending-bill support unless agencies accept audit requirements.