Senator seeks admin leadership to testify on AI policy
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Elizabeth Warren, the Senate Banking Committee’s ranking member criticized the lack of administration officials asked to testify at an upcoming hearing on AI and the American Dream.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is asking fellow lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee to bring Trump administration officials to the Hill to testify on the administration’s approach to artificial intelligence regulation, specifically requesting the presence of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The June 8 letter seeks the attendance of both Lutnick and Bessent, as well as other “key Administration officials,” to address outstanding issues related to the advent of AI.
Although the Senate Banking Committee is slated to host a hearing Thursday on “AI and the American Dream: Promoting Innovation, Affordability and American Dominance,” Warren took issue with the lack of administration leadership attendance. Right now, only industry experts are scheduled to testify before the panel.
“We need to hear directly from Trump Administration officials on the President’s approach to regulating AI companies, as well as the Administration’s failure to meaningfully oversee the industry,” Warren wrote in the letter, which was sent to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.
Warren's letter cited several national policy issues linked to AI that leaders like Bessent and Lutnick could speak to, including the risk that AI models pose to the U.S. financial system, as well as the rising electricity costs stemming from increased data center demand on the country’s electrical grid.
Warren also questioned both borrowing habits of AI companies when spending projected trillions of dollars in data center infrastructure components and if Treasury has plans to safeguard the U.S. economy from a potential financial crash, as well as Commerce’s “mismanagement of U.S. export controls,” citing them as further need to question senior government executives.
“Americans deserve to hear directly from the officials charged with protecting them. I therefore urge you to hold a hearing with Administration officials on President Trump’s AI policies without delay,” the letter concluded.
Warren’s letter follows an active week for AI policy at an executive level. Last week, President Donald Trump signed an AI executive order that asked the private sector to voluntarily submit their models for various security analyses, though Warren took issue with that very voluntary component.
Trump also released a memorandum last week asking the U.S. national security apparatus to accelerate their collaboration with AI developers to fast-track the availability of advanced models for the intelligence community and identify areas of government where AI could make improvements.