WEEK OF JULY 21. 2025 

AI Caramba! Trump’s Plan Drops Wednesday

State of Play: 

  • The House and Senate are in session this week. 

Driving the News: 

  • John Moolenaar, Chair of the House Select Committee on the CCP, sent a letter Friday to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, demanding answers on the Department’s approval of Nvidia’s plans to resume applications to sell its H20 AI chips to China, which he argues could significantly boost China’s AI capabilities.

  • The approval of the Chinese sales garnered criticism from China hawks who are looking for answers on the Administration’s chip strategy

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Three Things to Watch in Tech:

1. What to Expect from Trump’s AI Action Plan: The Trump Administration is expected to release its long-awaited AI Action Plan on Wednesday as the next step in advancing the President’s AI agenda.

  • The plan is widely expected to prioritize deregulation in a sharp 180 from the Biden Administration’s AI Executive Order.  

  • The AI Action Plan will instead focus on bolstering US AI leadership against China through, for example, streamlining environmental permitting for data center expansion.

  • Trump is also expected to issue several EOs to accompany the plan, aimed at eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion from federal AI initiatives, including procurement of AI and language in existing voluntary guidance from NIST.

2. Senator Cruz Pushes for State AI Moratorium… Again: Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) is gearing up to bring back the fight for a state AI moratorium in stand-alone legislation. 

  • Recall the moratorium was struck down on the Senate floor during reconciliation with a vote of 99-1, facing staunch opposition from other Republican Senators including Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Josh Hawley (R-MO). 

  • Cruz, however, has the backing of President Trump, whose pending AI Action Plan is expected to have a focus on defunding states with restrictive AI laws. 

  • It is unclear when Cruz will drop his bill, which will face a difficult uphill battle in both Chambers. 

3. What’s Next for CLARITY: Following last week’s intense negotiations and procedural standoffs, the House passed landmark crypto legislation including the GENIUS Act for stablecoins, which was signed into law, and the CLARITY Act to create a digital assets market structure, which now moves to the Senate.

  • Despite the bipartisan passage of GENIUS, the CLARITY Act is likely to face a more difficult path to passage. 

  • Senators are keen on introducing their own market structure bill, and it is unclear if they will take up CLARITY, and if they do, how they will change it. 

  • The Senate will likely include certain provisions around ethics safeguards on the President’s crypto ventures, which was a sticking point for a lot of Democrats. Despite not having these in the House bill, CLARITY received support from 78 Democrats.

What's Happening This WeekTech Hearings

  • The House Oversight and Government Reform Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee holds a hearing on "Bipartisan Roundtable: Artificial Intelligence in the Real World" - Tuesday, July 22 at 10:00 AM EST

  • The House Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee holds a hearing on "Fully Operational: Stuxnet 15 Years Later and the Evolution of Cyber Threats to Critical Infrastructure" - Tuesday, July 22 at 10:00 AM EST

  • The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet holds a hearing on "Foreign Abuse of U.S. Courts" - Tuesday, July 22 at 10:00 AM EST

  • The Senate Judiciary holds hearings to examine securing the skies, focusing on law enforcement, drones, and public safety - Tuesday, July 22 at 10:15 AM EST

  • The House Armed Services Committee to hold a hearing on “Reforming Defense Acquisition to Deliver Capability at the Speed of Relevance” - Wednesday, July 23 at 10:00 AM EST

  • The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party hotels a hearing on “United We Stand: Strategies to Counter PRC Economic Coercion Against Democracies” - Wednesday, July 23 at 10:00 AM EST

  • The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to hold hearings to examine the nominations of Pedro Allende, to be Under Secretary for Science and Technology, and Sean Plankey to be Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency - Thursday, July 24 at 9:30 AM EST

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