Who?
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) — Ranking Member, Senate Commerce Committee
LISTEN: Laslo & Cantwell
Ask a Pol asks:
What was your takeaway from the all-Senate AI forums Leader Chuck Schumer helped spearhead in the last Congress?
Key Cantwell:
Cantwell laughs.
“Sorry to laugh,” Sen. Maria Cantwell — who sits across from Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) — exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “We wrote a bunch of bills, and we passed them out of committee. And then Cruz, when [then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer (D-NY) tried to get a four corner* deal to do some really basic stuff, objected and killed them.”
*On Capitol Hill, ‘four corners’ refers to Congress’ four leaders — Senate majority, Senate minority, House majority and House minority leaders or their respective representatives.
Caught our ear:
“Republican AGs [attorneys general] are calling us, saying, ‘Please stop this,’” Cantwell tells us. “You’re taking away state law. It’s too broadly drafted for sure…horrible implications for people who are dealing with real crime issues at home — attorney generals (sic) — and they can’t even protect themselves.”
ICYMI — Read why state AGs oppose AI moratorium
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), slightly edited for clarity.
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TRANSCRIPT: Sen Maria Cantwell (6-18-2025)
Scene: Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo accompanies Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and her aide as they’re exiting out of the historic Senate Carriage Entrance before briefly chatting with them on the Capitol steps.
Matt Laslo: “What was your takeaway from last year’s AI forums?”
Cantwell laughs.
Maria Cantwell: “Sorry to laugh.”
Laslo laughs.
MC: “We wrote a bunch of bills, and we passed them out of committee.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MC: “And then Cruz, when Schumer tried to get a four corner deal to do some really basic stuff, objected and killed them.”
ML: “I mean…”
MC: “So, there’s a lot of work that was done to…”
ML: “Yeah?”
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