Democrats mull creating a select AI committee if they win the House
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Reps. Bill Foster, D-Ill., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif., are advocating for the new select committee as a way to solely focus on artificial intelligence legislative issues.
Reps. Bill Foster, D-Ill., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif., met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., last Tuesday to discuss the possibility of establishing a select committee focused on artificial intelligence, should Democrats retake the House in the coming midterms.
A person familiar with the meeting confirmed the details to Nextgov/FCW. Politico first reported the meeting.
The benefit of the select committee — if it were given legislative authority — would be to create a central avenue for considering AI legislation, rather than finding jurisdiction within other committees. The person familiar noted that the formation of this select committee would be modeled much like the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence or the House Select Committee on China, in that it would be bipartisan.
AI legislation currently ends up being considered in multiple committees — including Energy and Commerce and Science, Space and Technology — depending on what elements of the technology the bills would address.
If a new select committee were to be formed, it would not be the first time Congress has sought to single out AI in its legislative process. The House launched an AI Task Force in early 2024 that was charged with engaging experts and stakeholders to form a comprehensive report on AI’s impacts and proposals for legislative action.
Lawmakers in the Senate also formed an AI Caucus in 2019 meant to develop policy on the technology, including its risks and rewards.
But select committees are formally established via a House Resolution that also conveys what authorities it has, such as subpoena power, staff and budget, according to Michael Hettinger, president and founding principal of Hettinger Strategy Group and a former staff director for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Government Management. Those authorities go beyond what a task force or caucus could usually do.
Most House select committees don’t have legislative authority and “generally have to work with multiple standing committees to get things done,” Hettinger added.
Nextgov/FCW Executive Editor Jessie Bur contributed to this story.