Press Releases

Congressman Mark Alford (MO-04) led a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, Howard Lutnick. The letter urges the Commerce Department to continue pursuing policies that will cement the United States as the world capital of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Specifically, the Members of Congress are advocating for Secretary Lutnick to pursue a well-balanced strategy that limits foreign adversaries’ ability to develop frontier AI and enables American companies to compete quickly in the global marketplace.

Reps. Jack Bergman, Andrew Garbarino, Diana Harshbarger, Robert Wittman, John McGuire, Ben Cline, and Vern Buchanan joined Congressman Alford in sending the letter to Secretary Lutnick.

Read the full letter to Commerce Secretary Lutnick here.

Read key excerpts from the letter below:

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States is shaping emerging technologies globally and positioned as the world capital of artificial intelligence (AI). The President’s cabinet is unshackling American energy, cutting burdensome red tape, and unwinding Biden’s bad policies. One important example of bolstering American prosperity was your decision to rescind and replace the Biden administration’s AI Diffusion Rule. This rule would have helped China win the AI race, and replacing this rule quickly will provide American innovators a stable environment to compete and win. …

“While we are currently ahead of Communist China in the AI race, we must continue to help our nation, companies, and innovators succeed. Failure to maintain our lead in AI development means that we could be at the mercy of Communist China for many critical industries. Examples include cryptography, next-generation pharmaceuticals, and advanced defense materials. President Trump has been at the forefront of securing investment during his recent successful trip to the Middle East. He closed deals promoting U.S. technology as the global standard and secured landmark investments in frontier AI development at home. We must continue to capitalize on this momentum by ensuring allies and partners building out their AI investments see the U.S. as the superior, most reliable partner.

“One crucial next step in this competition is providing American innovators, exporters, and nations around the world a stable exporting structure. Mr. Secretary, your testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee included key elements of an AI diffusion framework that would enable American AI diffusion around the world while also limiting China’s ability to develop frontier AI. The Trump administration should not return to Biden’s tiers and caps that confused close allies and partners. …

“We can only win the AI race with Communist China if we are wisely limiting our foreign adversary’s opportunities to develop frontier AI and enabling American companies to compete quickly in the global marketplace. Both prongs are important and the balance between them are crucial. America is winning the AI race, but the competition has been hard fought and will continue to be. Steps must be taken quickly since investments happening now will create the world’s tech ecosystem for decades to come. …”

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