White House, Senate revive push to block state AI laws through kids safety deal

The White House and congressional Republicans are reviving an effort to override some state AI laws, this time by pairing federal AI preemption with children’s online safety and deepfake legislation that has already drawn intense lobbying from technology companies and child safety advocates.

The negotiations, reportedly led in the Senate by Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, would trade one of the technology industry’s top federal priorities – limiting state AI regulation – for a package that could include the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), the App Store Accountability Act and the NO FAKES Act.

The talks mark the latest attempt to establish a national AI framework after last year’s effort to impose a broad moratorium on state AI laws collapsed in the Senate.

That earlier proposal, backed by industry groups and some Republicans, was stripped from a major spending bill after bipartisan opposition from lawmakers, governors, consumer advocates, and child safety groups who warned that it would wipe out state protections before Congress had enacted federal replacements.

This new approach appears narrower. Blackburn’s office described the preemption language as subject-matter based, meaning only state AI laws that cover the same areas addressed by the federal package would be displaced.

That would be a major difference from broader proposals aimed at preventing states from regulating AI model development or other large categories of AI activity.

The emerging package is also politically complicated. Offices connected to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, first lady Melania Trump, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Economic Council reportedly met with children’s online safety groups this week to discuss KOSA and the App Store Accountability Act.

Those offices reportedly expressed support for the bills, though a White House official said the administration did not have a formal position on the proposals discussed.

The children’s safety provisions are central because they could give the preemption push a political vehicle that broader AI legislation has lacked.

KOSA would impose new responsibilities on platforms used by minors, while the App Store Accountability Act would shift more age-verification responsibility onto app stores.

Supporters frame the bills as long-overdue protections for children online. Critics, including some Democrats and privacy advocates, have warned that age-verification systems can require intrusive data collection and could create new identity and surveillance risks for minors and adults.

House Republicans are also moving their own children’s safety package. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce staff have been discussing a separate Kids Act package that likely would not include KOSA-style duty-of-care requirements or age-verification bills, a sign that House leaders are not yet aligned with the Senate’s approach.

The White House has already laid the groundwork for federal preemption.

In March, it released legislative recommendations calling for a national AI policy framework to prevent what it described as a fragmented patchwork of state laws, while saying states should retain traditional police powers to protect children, prevent fraud, protect consumers, control zoning for AI infrastructure, and govern their own use of AI in areas such as procurement, law enforcement, and public education.

Last week, Republican Reps. Jay Obernolte and Democrat Rep. Lori Trahan released a 270-page discussion draft of the Great American AI Act, bipartisan legislation that would create a federal framework for how the U.S. governs AI.

Also supported by House Republicans Scott Franklin and Erin Houchin, the draft would preempt certain state AI laws for three years.

“Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly, which is why Congress must take a thoughtful and bipartisan approach to regulating this critical technology,” Obernolte said. “This discussion draft is an important step toward building a clear federal framework that promotes innovation, protects Americans from emerging risks, and ensures the United States continues to lead the world in AI.”

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) argued that Congress should separate the issues rather than combine AI preemption, deepfakes, and children’s safety into one legislative bargain.

ITIF Senior Policy Manager Ash Johnson said Wednesday that “pairing federal preemption of state AI laws with separate children’s online safety and digital replica bills could sabotage the ongoing debate surrounding each of these issues.”

“Tying preemption to bills Congress is still actively debating, all of which contain flaws that would hinder innovation instead of enabling it, is taking one step forward and several steps back,” Johnson added. “Congress should enact federal preemption of state AI laws on its own while continuing to iron out its approach to children’s online safety and digital replicas.”

The debate now turns on whether Congress can write a preemption provision narrow enough to satisfy AI companies without alienating the child safety, privacy, and state authority coalitions that helped kill last year’s moratorium.

The political bargain is clear: industry wants relief from a growing state-by-state AI regulatory map, while Blackburn and allied lawmakers want movement on child safety, app store accountability, and digital replica protections.

The unresolved question is whether combining those fights creates a pathway to a federal AI law or simply recreates the same coalition that defeated the last one.

Article Topics

age verification  |  app store age verification  |  deepfakes  |  Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act (KIDS Act)  |  Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)  |  legislation  |  U.S. AI policy  |  U.S. Government