Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Senate’s Upcoming A.I. Insight Forum And Making Progress On Critical Issues For The American People
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate’s upcoming Insight Forum on A.I. and critical issues before the Senate. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
And as we work to fund the government, there are plenty of other things we must do too, both on and off the floor.
We will, for one, continue laying a foundation for bipartisan congressional action on AI.
Next Wednesday, along with Senators Rounds, Heinrich, and Young, I will host the Senate’s inaugural AI Insight Forum, a first-ever convening of the top minds in AI here in the Congress. Voices from business and the civil rights community, researchers, worker advocates – and many more – all in one room, having an open discussion about how Congress can act on AI: where to start, what questions to ask, and how to build a foundation for SAFE AI innovation.
These AI forums are vital. Artificial intelligence is unlike any topic we have undertaken in Congress – it moves faster, it is more complex, and there is little precedent for this kind of work.
This is not going to be easy, in fact, it will be one of the most difficult things we undertake, but in the twenty-first century, as technology moves forward with or without us, we cannot behave like ostriches with heads in the sand when it comes to AI. We must treat AI with the same level of seriousness as national security, as job creation, and our civil liberties.
Now ultimately, of course, the real legislative work will come in committees, but the AI forums will give us the nutrient agar, the facts and the challenges that we need to understand in order to reach this goal.
Of course, next week’s forum is just the start. The Senate will continue hosting AI Forums throughout the fall on a variety of topics, including finding ways to promote AI innovation, IP issues, workforce issues, privacy, security, alignment, and many more.
We will also move the ball forward on other items on our agenda, wherever we can, but of course they will need Republican help to reach the necessary 60 votes to move forward.
Like lowering the cost of insulin and prescription drugs, something members of both sides are hard at work on. We did it in the IRA for insulin for Medicare, for people over 65. We should do it for everybody else. Insulin is too vital and becoming too expensive for too many Americans.
And making progress on cannabis through the SAFE Banking Act, as well as commonsense rail safety, which I said in July will a big priority.
We also must build on the work we did during the NDAA to outcompete the Chinese government, to keep the American people safe, to protect American businesses, and ensure that American innovation and technology leads the way this century.
We also must continue standing with our friends in Ukraine, now more than ever, as the counteroffensive against Putin’s forces is in full swing.
And we must stand with our fellow Americans in places like Hawaii, Florida, Vermont, and other regions battered by storms and fires and flooding.
And the topics continue: from advancing a Farm Bill, to kids online privacy, to reauthorizing the FAA, to holding bank executives accountable for irresponsible behavior.
Our committees have done excellent work to move all of these issues along, but we are under no illusion that we can make progress on the Senate floor unless we get bipartisan cooperation. None of this will be easy either. The bills will require a lot of work and compromise. But if we can progress on these items, we will greatly improve the lives of average Americans.
Finding bipartisan compromise on issues like these is never easy, but that’s what it will take to get things done, and our efforts to do precisely that have already led to significant accomplishments under this majority. As we gavel back in, we will keep going, to reward the trust the American people have placed in us.
###
