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Exclusive / Bipartisan AI safety talks stall out in Senate

Sep 29, 2026, 4:43am EDT
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Ted Cruz
Evan Vucci/Reuters

The Senate’s bipartisan AI safety talks are at a standstill now, and there will be no committee action before the election, according to Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and the Democrat he’s working with, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

Cruz said that while he wants to move forward, “we don’t yet have bipartisan agreement on that bill, so at this point, any markup would have to be during a lame duck. I’m frustrated by that.”

Klobuchar said she is still talking to Republicans and hopes to “pass strong safeguards” on AI by year’s end. She blamed President Donald Trump and said his “opposition to common-sense, bipartisan guardrails has complicated the negotiations.”

At this point, it’s unclear whether senators will even be able to introduce a bipartisan bill before the election.

“Possibly,” Cruz said. “But that decision has not been made.”

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