Which AI bills are pending in Congress?
The table lists federal AI bills that draw steady search interest, with the stage each has reached in the 119th Congress. Each status comes from the bill's Congress.gov record; vote counts come from the House Clerk or the committee's own release. Where House and Senate versions exist, both numbers are shown. Dates are the most recent recorded action.
| Bill | Number | Lead sponsors | Topic | Stage (as of Nov. 9, 2026) | Last action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TAKE IT DOWN Act | S. 146 (P.L. 119-12) | Cruz (R-Texas); Klobuchar (D-Minn.) | Intimate deepfakes | Law. Signed May 19, 2025; platform duty enforced since May 19, 2026 | 2025-05-19 |
| KIDS Act (House kids package, includes KOSA subtitle) | H.R. 7757 | Guthrie (R-Ky.) | Kids online safety, chatbots | Passed House 267 to 117; referred to Senate Commerce | 2026-07-13 |
| Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) | S. 1748 | Blackburn (R-Tenn.); Blumenthal (D-Conn.) | Kids online safety | Ordered reported by Senate Commerce; awaiting floor vote | 2026-08-05 |
| DEFIANCE Act | S. 1837 / H.R. 3562 | Durbin (D-Ill.); Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) | Deepfake lawsuits | Passed Senate by unanimous consent; held at House desk | 2026-01-13 |
| NO FAKES Act of 2026 | S. 4591 / H.R. 8915 | Coons (D-Del.); Salazar (R-Fla.) | Voice and likeness | Reported by Senate Judiciary; on Senate calendar | 2026-06-24 |
| GUARD Act | S. 3062 / H.R. 8623 | Hawley (R-Mo.); Moore (R-Utah) | AI companions and minors | Reported by Senate Judiciary (22 to 0); on Senate calendar | 2026-05-11 |
| CHATBOT Act | S. 4407 | Cruz (R-Texas) | Chatbots and minors | Ordered reported by Senate Commerce | 2026-08-05 |
| App Store Accountability Act | S. 1586 / H.R. 3149 | Lee (R-Utah); James (R-Mich.) | App store age and consent | House version forwarded by E&C subcommittee; Senate version in committee | 2025-12-11 |
| CREATE AI Act of 2025 | H.R. 2385 | Obernolte (R-Calif.) | Research compute (NAIRR) | Ordered reported by House Science, 29 to 0 | 2026-06-25 |
| AI LEAD Act | S. 2937 | Durbin (D-Ill.) | AI product liability | Referred to Senate Judiciary | 2025-09-29 |
| Artificial Intelligence Civil Rights Act of 2025 | S. 3308 / H.R. 6356 | Markey (D-Mass.); Clarke (D-N.Y.) | Algorithmic discrimination | Referred to committee in both chambers | 2025-12-02 |
| Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2025 | S. 2164 / H.R. 5511 | Wyden (D-Ore.); Clarke (D-N.Y.) | Automated decision impact assessments | Referred to committee in both chambers | 2025-09-19 |
| White House National Policy Framework for AI | Not a bill | Executive branch | Preemption of state AI laws | Legislative recommendations sent to Congress; no bill enacted | 2026-03-20 |
Three patterns stand out. Bills about children and about sexual deepfakes are moving; bills that would regulate AI systems generally, such as the Algorithmic Accountability Act and the AI Civil Rights Act, have not left committee. The Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees have each approved AI bills, the GUARD Act by 22 to 0 and KOSA by voice vote, but none of those bills has reached the Senate floor. And the House prefers packaging: its main kids' safety vehicle, the KIDS Act, bundles more than a dozen separate bills, including a narrower version of KOSA and a chatbot disclosure title.
Federal AI laws already enacted
The TAKE IT DOWN Act is the federal statute in this area that is in force. Signed on May 19, 2025 as Public Law 119-12, it makes knowingly publishing nonconsensual intimate images a federal crime, expressly including AI-generated "digital forgeries," and it requires covered platforms to remove reported images within 48 hours. The FTC began enforcing the platform duty on May 19, 2026. Penalties reach 2 years in prison for offenses involving adults and 3 years for offenses involving minors.
There is no general federal AI law comparable to the EU's AI Act. Federal AI policy outside this statute runs mainly through executive orders, agency guidance and existing laws applied to AI, such as the FTC Act and copyright law. For the European approach, see our page on the EU AI Act's content rules; for a state attempt at frontier model regulation, see California SB 1047.
AI regulation bills by topic
Deepfakes and likeness
Three bills form a set. The TAKE IT DOWN Act (law) handles criminal liability and platform takedowns for intimate images. The DEFIANCE Act, S. 1837, would add a civil lawsuit for victims of sexually explicit deepfakes with $150,000 to $250,000 in liquidated damages; it passed the Senate by unanimous consent on January 13, 2026 and is held at the House desk. The NO FAKES Act, S. 4591, is broader in subject but civil only: a federal property right in voice and visual likeness against unauthorized digital replicas, with a notice-and-takedown system. Senate Judiciary reported it on June 24, 2026. For background on state publicity law, see voice, likeness and the right of publicity.
Kids and chatbots
This is the busiest category. The House passed the KIDS Act, H.R. 7757, on June 29, 2026 by 267 to 117 on Roll Call 228. Its SAFE BOTs title would require chatbot providers to tell known minors they are talking to an AI and to provide crisis resources. In the Senate, the Judiciary Committee advanced the GUARD Act, S. 3062, 22 to 0 on April 30, 2026; it would ban AI companions for minors and require age verification. The Commerce Committee on August 5, 2026 advanced KOSA, the CHATBOT Act (family accounts for minors' chatbot use) and the Youth AI Privacy Act. The App Store Accountability Act, per its official title, aims to give parents clear information about the apps their children download and to ensure parental consent.
Frontier AI and accountability
Bills in this group would set general rules for AI developers or users, and none has advanced past referral. The AI LEAD Act, S. 2937, sponsored by Sen. Durbin with Sen. Hawley among its cosponsors, would establish legal standards for advanced AI products, a product liability approach. The Algorithmic Accountability Act would direct the FTC to require impact assessments of automated decision systems. The Artificial Intelligence Civil Rights Act would establish protections for individual rights with respect to computational algorithms, according to its official title.
Other federal AI bills
The CREATE AI Act, H.R. 2385, would establish the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource at the National Science Foundation to give researchers, educators and students access to data and computing power. The House Science Committee ordered it reported 29 to 0 on June 25, 2026. This tracker does not yet include data center and chip export bills; they will be added once each status has been checked against Congress.gov.
How a federal AI bill becomes law
Every bill in the table must pass the House and the Senate in identical text and be signed by the President, or survive a veto. The stages shown in the table map onto that path. A bill is introduced and referred to committee; most AI bills stop there. A committee "markup" amends and votes on the bill, after which it is "ordered reported" and later formally reported to the full chamber. In the Senate, a reported bill goes on the Legislative Calendar to wait for floor time, which the majority leader controls.
The Senate can pass a bill by "unanimous consent" with no recorded vote, as it did with the TAKE IT DOWN Act and the DEFIANCE Act; a single objection blocks that route. The House often passes bills "under suspension of the rules," which limits debate and amendments but requires a two-thirds majority; the KIDS Act passed that way. When one chamber passes a bill, the other may pass it unchanged, amend it, or ignore it. A Senate bill "held at the desk" in the House, like S. 1837, can be brought to the floor without committee action.
Timing matters. The 119th Congress ends in January 2027. Any bill not enacted by then dies and must be reintroduced with a new number. To check a bill yourself, open its Congress.gov page and read the "All Actions" tab, which records every step with a date.
Federal AI regulation vs state AI laws
States have enacted their own AI laws, and whether Congress will displace them is a central open question in federal AI policy. On December 11, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14365, "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence." It directed the Attorney General to set up an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state AI laws the administration views as inconsistent with federal policy, and it directed White House advisers to draft legislation creating a uniform federal framework that preempts conflicting state laws. The order said that recommendation should not propose preempting otherwise lawful state laws on child safety, AI compute and data center infrastructure (other than general permitting reform), or state procurement and use of AI.
The White House released that National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence on March 20, 2026, as legislative recommendations to Congress. Its announcement lists six objectives, including protecting children, respecting intellectual property and creators, preventing censorship, and enabling innovation, and calls for a national standard. The framework is not law. As of November 9, 2026, no bill preempting state AI laws has been enacted, so state AI statutes remain in effect unless a court holds otherwise.
Several of the bills above take their own position on state law. The DEFIANCE Act and the GUARD Act expressly preserve state laws that are at least as protective. The KIDS Act preempts only conflicting state law. The NO FAKES Act would preempt state digital replica laws enacted after January 2, 2025, while preserving earlier ones.
Only one federal AI statute in this tracker is law: the TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed May 19, 2025. Everything else is pending, including the House-passed KIDS Act, the Senate-passed DEFIANCE Act, and KOSA, NO FAKES, GUARD and the CHATBOT Act, which await Senate floor votes. No federal law preempts state AI laws, and bills not enacted by the end of the 119th Congress must be reintroduced.
What changed
- 2026-08-05: Senate Commerce advances KOSA (S. 1748) and the CHATBOT Act (S. 4407).
- 2026-07-13: House-passed KIDS Act referred to Senate Commerce.
- 2026-06-29: House passes the KIDS Act, H.R. 7757, 267 to 117.
- 2026-06-25: House Science orders the CREATE AI Act reported, 29 to 0.
- 2026-06-24: NO FAKES Act (S. 4591) reported by Senate Judiciary.
- 2026-05-19: TAKE IT DOWN Act platform removal duty takes effect; FTC begins enforcement.
- 2026-05-11: GUARD Act (S. 3062) reported by Senate Judiciary after a 22 to 0 vote.
- 2026-03-20: White House releases National Policy Framework for AI, urging preemption.
- 2026-01-13: Senate passes the DEFIANCE Act (S. 1837) by unanimous consent.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a federal AI law?
There is no comprehensive federal AI law. The TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed May 19, 2025, is the federal statute aimed at AI-generated content: it criminalizes publishing nonconsensual intimate images, including AI deepfakes, and requires platforms to remove them within 48 hours. Other AI rules come from existing laws, executive orders and state statutes.
What AI bills are in Congress right now?
As of November 9, 2026, the most advanced are the House-passed KIDS Act (H.R. 7757), the Senate-passed DEFIANCE Act (S. 1837), and KOSA, the NO FAKES Act, the GUARD Act and the CHATBOT Act, all reported by Senate committees. Others, including the AI LEAD Act and the Algorithmic Accountability Act, remain in committee.
Which AI bills have passed?
Only the TAKE IT DOWN Act has passed both chambers and become law. The KIDS Act has passed the House, 267 to 117, and the DEFIANCE Act has passed the Senate by unanimous consent; each still needs the other chamber. No other AI bill in this tracker has had a floor vote in the 119th Congress.
How do I check an AI bill's status?
Search the bill number on Congress.gov and open the All Actions tab, which lists every committee referral, markup, floor vote and signature with its date. For House votes, the House Clerk's roll call page gives the tally by party and member. Senate committee websites post markup results.
Sources
- Public Law 119-12, TAKE IT DOWN Act (Congress.gov)
- Congress.gov: H.R. 7757, KIDS Act
- House Clerk: Roll Call 228, June 29, 2026
- Senate Commerce Committee: Commerce Committee Advances Kids Online Safety Legislation (August 5, 2026)
- Congress.gov: S. 4591, NO FAKES Act of 2026
- Congress.gov: S. 3062, GUARD Act
- Congress.gov: S. 1837, DEFIANCE Act of 2025
- Roll Call: Ban on kids' companion chatbots advanced by Senate committee (April 30, 2026)
- White House: Executive Order 14365, Ensuring a National Policy Framework for AI (December 11, 2025)
- White House: National Policy Framework for AI, Legislative Recommendations (March 2026)
- FTC: FTC Begins Enforcing the TAKE IT DOWN Act (May 2026)
This page is journalism and commentary, not legal advice. AI law changes quickly; check the primary sources above and consult qualified counsel for your situation.