2026-09-148brief

[UPDATE] Trump rejects AI slowdown, says US must not cede AI lead to China

Speaking in Ireland a day after the heads of Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI and Google DeepMind backed a slowdown, Trump blamed "negative forces" for the warnings and named no guardrails he would support.

On Sept. 12, three House Democrats urged Speaker Mike Johnson (Rep-R Louisiana) to keep the House in session until it passed AI safeguards; Johnson declined to schedule votes, citing industry talks planned for early winter.

The rest of the AI fight on the Sunday shows:

  • Johnson rejected an emergency AI moratorium, citing China: "We cannot put a moratorium on this because China will overlap us." (Fox News)
  • He proposed a meeting with Trump, lawmakers and AI leaders, and said he would recall the House for a vote only "if we had a solution."
  • Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (Rep-D New York) made AI the high priority for the caucus meeting Tuesday, Sept. 15: "We should take decisive action now." (ABC News)
  • Spencer Cox (Gov-R Utah) broke with Johnson, saying the federal government should play "a much bigger role" and calling Congress's response embarrassing. (CBS News)
  • 70% of registered voters oppose AI data centers in their communities, per a July Fox News poll.
  • Xi Jinping (President, China) is due at the White House later in September; PBS NewsHour reports AI is likely on the agenda.