US budget bill passes without controversial block on states regulating AI

Lawmakers have passed President Trump's budget reconciliation but removed one of its most tech-contentious measures - the ban of state-level AI regulation – meaning the law will have little effect on the tech industry. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) tried to delay a vote on the bill with a nine-hour speech but …

[FuzzyTheBear]

Progress ?

Anything and everything that was progress , science , education , clean energy , every progressive measure , even healthcare for the poor has all been axed. The USA is now officially gone to the dogs. Russia won . They didn't have to fire a single bullet to see the USA being dismanteled piece by piece by their best agent Trump. China is now the world leader and that's something Americans will have to deal with. Russia 1 China 1 USA 0 .

[Sora2566]

Re: Progress ?

I wouldn't go as far as to say that this was "the one thing" that killed America, but this is a particularly big bit of straw on its camel back.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Progress ?

I’m surprised they haven’t had another immediate credit rating downgrade as a consequence of this… unless they are waiting for it to be Sharpied (assuming he used the USA made ones, not the Mexican ones).

The slow moving funding crisis hitting US Social Security is due to hit shore 2033. I’m sure they will just increase the debt ceiling to fill that hole.

Self-evidently fundamentally - like the UK - you can’t turn national debt downwards without a combination of spending tightening and tax rises.

Until this reality gap is crossed both counties will remain in a bind. The US bill is a Big Bollocks Bill trading long term debt for Tax Cuts, and taking healthcare and food away from the poor to mid- salary Americans. It’s Liz Truss grade economic illiteracy madness.

Look at Japan - being labouring with 200% GDP to debt for a couple of decades and can’t shift it.

[DS999]

Re: Progress ?

Russia isn't the winner. Putin might think so if the US is dragged down, but Russia is a lesser country than some of its former USSR vassal states and is nothing on the world stage. They were exposed in their inability to successfully invade Ukraine. Yes the west has contributed weapons but the manpower has been 100% Ukraine's and Russia's military is so pathetic they have had to conscript bodies from other countries and make a deal with NK to take 10,000 cannon fodder units off their hands.

China will be the big winner from the US' downfall, though they will have their own reckoning coming over the next few decades from their demographic problem. The best possible outcome is that there is no longer ANY country that is as dominant over the world as the US has been since WW II, or Britain was during its days of Empire. That is the only way it will be in everyone's best interests to truly cooperate - once the "American exceptionalism" mind virus is dead.

[Don Jefe]

Re: Progress ?

You’re correct. China is the winner. But I think the earlier comment was addressing Khrushchev’s famous “We will take America without firing a shot. We do not have to invade the U.S. We will destroy you from within.” quote.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Progress ?

I think OBL might be wanting to claim some credit for America's downfall.

[Anonymous Coward]

Grimly predictable.

Like the New Russians, they thought making common cause with billionaires and foreign powers over their own countrymen would get them fancier shops to smash, bigger TVs to loot, and wipe the smirk off the intelligentsia's faces.

Oh well. They'll be crushed by the current setup, then throw themselves behind the next reactionary strongman (whomever Musk anoints in his "centrist" party I'll bet) who dripfeeds their tax money back to them, and then sends their kids to die in the fields of Ontario in 30 years.

[CrazyOldCatMan]

then sends their kids to die in the fields of Ontario California in 30 3 years

[DS999]

Satellite should not be considered for BEAD

It is intended to build broadband INFRASTRUCTURE. Satellites are not infrastructure - they last for five years so they need to constantly be launched. Lay fiber and it'll be there for 100 years (modulo having to fix the occasional backhoe digging in the wrong spot) I'd argue that cellular companies using that money to build or upgrade towers would be a far better use than satellite, though not as good as fiber. But it is the best alternative where fiber isn't feasible (very low population density, difficult terrain, etc.)

It is probably academic, Trump will likely do something to kill BEAD since it was a Biden era program (if nothing else by firing the people who administer the funding so there's no way that money can be spent) or will rig the game against Starlink since Musk is went from Trump's best buddy to persona non grata like everyone except Elon himself knew would happen before summer started.

[Ken Y-N]

Re: Satellite should not be considered for BEAD

The article says AI infrastructure is also now included, so I wonder how much is now going to be spent on just hooking up new bitbarns rather than actually helping people get online.

[DS999]

Re: Satellite should not be considered for BEAD

Ah so that's why Trump didn't kill it. Wondered why he would leave a Biden era program without even trying to get rid of it or hamstring its operation. Repurposing it as a corporate welfare giveaway to AI companies worth billions/trillions instead of the rural folks it was intended for is absolutely on brand for him - exactly the same vein as cutting services to the most vulnerable like SNAP and Mediaid to help fund tax cuts for billionaires and corporations in his big deficit busting bill!

[Anonymous Coward]

So long America

It’s been mostly fun.

[LogicGate]

Re: So long America

I am curious about how long it will take for the MAGA base to notice that they have got a Big Buttfull of Bill rammed up their posterior. The pessimist in me fears that they will continue to live in denial and continue to blame Biden and Hillary.

[Wang Cores]

Re: So long America

The worst parts of it are expected to hit in 2028 to create a further crisis.

[DS999]

Re: So long America

The pessimist in me fears that they will continue to live in denial and continue to blame Biden and Hillary

They are in a cult. Seriously, read up places where you can see 10 or 12 steps of a cult and MAGA is pretty far down the list - to the place where they are purging those within who aren't deemed 100% perfectly loyal to The Leader. They'll blame anyone but Trump. Could be Biden, or it could be Mike Johnson or John Thune blamed for inserting the "bad stuff" in the bill that hurts them, because they aren't true MAGA they are part of the "uniparty". The "uniparty" is a growing meme in MAGAworld, they can no longer just hate democrats, they have to expand their hate to include all republicans who aren't sufficiently loyal to Trump.

There are only a couple steps left in the cult playbook to the inevitable conclusion when the participants finally realize they've been lied to the whole time, since Trump has made lofty promises that he won't keep and will soon run out of people to blame. Unless Trump is successful in making himself dictator he'll have to leave office in January 2029. He won't have any use for his followers anymore - he won't get the same excitement tweeting at them when he is no longer the most powerful man in the world and everyone hangs on his every word. So he'll likely just abandon them (he even told them as much, admitting "I don't care about you I just want your votes!") and while others will try to step in and take up the mantle the likely suspects (JD Vance, Ron DeSantis, Don Jr, Steve Bannon) put together have the personal charisma of a turnip. The cult will fracture as each of them plus various others will get some small fraction of MAGA half-heartedly following them but they'll soon lose interest because they won't love those pretenders the way they love Trump.

That feeling of abandonment by the cult leader will likely lead to many thousands of suicides. And I won't be sad to see them go.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So long America

Just break off Diplomatic Relations with the Orange Tosspot and his criminal, crooked cronies. He's as bad as Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un and all the rest of the alive and dead despots. It's a pity he got away with the Sept 2024 episode. His US will go down in history with the 3rd Reich and Roman Empire.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So long America

My aging mind wandered while reading these comments to a recent comment on an unrelated article where the writer referred to Clappy and CockPilot - satirizing two Microsoft atrocities. I was minded that they could equally apply to elements of US politics.

[m4r35n357]

California Uber Alles

Look it up. You should have listened to Jello!