![politicians debate [keyword] in congress](https://darafreshnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Untitled-design-6-1.png)
https://darafreshnews.com/84v7/House-Caves-as4kdgr
The House of Representatives passed a bill that would make it easier to get federal
The House of Representatives passed a bill that would make it easier to get federal permits to build infrastructure for AI projects. The bill, known as the SPEED Act, garners support from major tech companies such as OpenAI, Micron, and Microsoft.
The bill passed the House by a vote of 218 – 213, despite a conservative revolt that almost killed it in a procedural vote. The Senate will now look at the bill, and it will probably be part of a bigger discussion about changing the rules for permits.
SPEED Act supporters say the U.S. must beat China and other global rivals to be the top AI leader.
“The electricity we will need to power AI computing for civilian and military use is a national imperative,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., the bill’s sponsor and chair of the House Natural Resources Committee.
The SPEED Act would reform the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal reviews for projects that would affect the environment.
The SPEED Act would shorten the current six year statute of limitations for NEPA litigation
The SPEED Act would shorten the current six-year statute of limitations for NEPA litigation to 150 days and tighten the deadlines for NEPA reviews.
As AI has become a major industry and power-hungry data centers have put more strain on the electric grid, pressure has grown on Congress to take action.
The SPEED Act would enable the United States to be “nimble enough to build what we need, when we need it,” according to Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, the bill’s Democratic cosponsor.
However, the majority of Democrats opposed the SPEED Act and insisted that any permitting bill reverse President Donald Trump’s efforts to stifle offshore wind and other renewable energy sources.
Soon after the vote, Sen
Soon after the vote, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) announced the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Center Moratorium Act, a woke piece of legislation that would “halt the construction of new AI data centers until strict national safeguards are enacted to protect communities, workers, and the environment.”Advertisement
“AI and robotics are creating the most sweeping technological revolution in the history of humanity. The scale, scope and speed of that change is unprecedented. Congress is way behind where it should be in understanding the nature of this revolution and its impacts,” Sanders said.
“We have seen ICE partner with AI companies to surveil Americans, social media users employ AI bots to create sexually explicit deepfakes of women and children, and data center construction inflate electric bills in communities across the country. And all of this harm has occurred because of the absence of federal legislation to regulate AI. Congress has a moral obligation to stand with the American people and stop the expansion of these data centers until we have a framework to adequately address the existential harm AI poses to our society. We must choose humanity over profit,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“Additionally, this bill will stop a global race to see which country is the first to eliminate hundreds of millions of jobs or the first to build an AI that destroys the planet. It accomplishes this by banning U.S. exports of AI computing infrastructure to countries that do not have safeguards in place to guarantee AI is safe and effective, workers are protected, and AI does not harm the environment,” they added.
