Overview
- A letter drafted by Rep. Sam Liccardo and circulating among House members was still seeking signatures on Friday to press Speaker Mike Johnson to reconvene the chamber immediately and remain in session until AI safeguards pass.
- The letter, co-signed so far by Reps. George Whitesides and Lori Trahan, frames the short window before a roughly six-week recess as a test of whether Congress will act on what signers call catastrophic AI risk.
- House leadership has not changed its schedule and has announced a planned vote next week on a data-center energy bill instead of taking up comprehensive AI regulation before the recess.
- Lawmakers point to specific bipartisan options that could be debated and voted on, including the AI Kill Switch Act, which would require human-controlled shutdown mechanisms, and the FRONTIER Act, which would create a national framework for new AI models.
- The push follows public warnings this week from current and former Anthropic researchers that advanced AI could threaten humanity within the decade and could force a floor-scheduling fight that affects oversight, public debate, and election messaging.