House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is sending the House home early, canceling the last legislative day before the November midterm elections.
Johnson framed the cancellation of votes as giving members an opportunity to go home to tout the Republicans’ legislative record in their districts. However, the shortening of the House’s voting schedule ensures the House will not take quick action on placing safety guardrails on artificial intelligence before Election Day.
The speaker told the Washington Examiner that an expected meeting with top AI executives to hash out what role the federal government, if any, should have in regulating the technology will occur “early next week.”
Largely rejecting calls to act quickly on regulating AI models after top executives called for the slowdown of the rapidly developing technology, Johnson has said the House will not take “stupid knee-jerk reaction prescriptions” toward the industry.
“We cannot have a moratorium on the development of AI, OK, because then we will lose our edge to China, and that has serious national security implications for every American family,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “So there’s a balance here, and we’re going to have steady hands at the wheel on this as we do everything else.”
The cancellation also possibly helps Republicans avoid a politically costly vote on impeaching Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) Tuesday, in which he accuses the Trump official of abusing the power of his office by executing an “unlawful order to impose hostilities” against Iran, among other charges.
Johnson called the articles of impeachment against Hegseth “ridiculous” and a “publicity stunt by someone who wants attention,” referring to Massie.
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“It will immediately be tabled, of course, but we probably won’t do that today,” Johnson said. “We’ll probably do it when we come back. But it’s a stunt. Secretary Hegseth has done an extraordinary job. … We’re in the middle of international conflicts right now, and we should not be playing games with national security, and I think that’s how the members see this.”
There are only 48 days until the midterm elections that will decide who controls the House for the last two years of President Donald Trump’s term.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
