Congress has until midnight on September 30th to pass a spending bill or the U.S. government will shut down again. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) says the Senate has a "bipartisan path forward;" the House is where the problem is. "The real problem right now is Speaker McCarthy continues to be, really, led around by a very far-right, extreme contingent in his caucus," Van Hollen says.
Van Hollen also attended a forum with tech CEOs which focused on regulating AI. Van Hollen says "there was broad agreement that there's an important federal government role to play in establishing guidelines... to try to make sure that we have AI implemented in a safe way." Van Hollen went on to say the meeting was "an important first step" and an "indication that folks recognize that AI can be transformative... but also there are great risks."
Video Transcript
AKIKO FUJITA: The deadline is fast-approaching for Congress to pass a spending bill and avert a government shutdown by the end of this month. We have been down this road before, with the Democrats and Republicans unable to come to an agreement on the budget. The key sticking points this time around, well, some Republicans are looking for deeper spending cuts while certain members of the more conservative wing of the party in the House are asking for tighter border policies and a vote to impeach President Biden.
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Here with the latest from the Hill, we've got Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen. Senator, it's good to talk to you today. I realize so much of this is up in the air on the House side of things, but how optimistic are you that a government shutdown can be averted?
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Well, it's good to be with you. And the answer to that question really does depend entirely on what's happening in the House of Representatives. And the reason I say that is that here in the Senate, we do have a bipartisan path forward. There's agreement that we should have a short-term, continuing resolution to give us a little more time to put together the final bills, budget bills, for the upcoming fiscal year. And we've already passed all of those bills out of the Senate Appropriations Committee almost unanimously.
So the real problem right now is Speaker McCarthy continues to be really led around by a very far-right extreme contingent in his caucus. Look, at the end of the day, if Speaker McCarthy agrees to put up for a vote in the House, the kind of bipartisan proposals that we're sending from the Senate, I'm confident that they would pass. The question is whether he will put the country before his own interests and move forward in that way.
SEANA SMITH: And Senator let's talk a little bit about the risk of doing so. We've heard a number of economic projections. But when it comes to spending, there has largely been criticism really from both sides of the aisle from the amount of spending that has happened down in DC over the last several years, spanning a number of administrations. Are you at all hesitant, are you at all worried the fact that we are going to continue to increase the spending here, given where the deficit is today?
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Well, I think if you look at the bills that have been passed over the last couple of years, you see a significant focus on important investments, including the Inflation Reduction Act and the clean energy industry, the infrastructure bill. So I think those are important investments in the economy.
I will say that as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, for example, it was in the end deficit-neutral, because we did raise taxes on some of the very wealthiest corporations. We essentially put in place a minimum tax for the most profitable corporations. So, look, at the end of the day, it was really important to help the economy during COVID. But, yes, looking forward it's going to be important to make sure we keep an eye on the deficits.
AKIKO FUJITA: Senator, let's switch gears here to talk about a big meeting that you were a part of today. We, of course, had major tech executives coming into DC to discuss the framework of AI regulation. I'm curious, what you think that framework should look like, and to what extent these executives, CEOs, should have a say in that given that they are the ones that are creating or behind this technology?
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Well, I attended the morning session, which lasted a couple hours. I thought it was a very good discussion. We had the CEOs of tech companies. We also had the representatives from the labor movement, AFL-CIO, and from a number of civil rights organizations. And look, the good news was there was broad agreement, that there's an important federal government role to play in establishing guidelines, rules of the road, to try to make sure that we have AI implemented in a safe way.
Of course, the challenge is always the details. And the devil is in the details. But this was a really important step to get a lot of people in the room and begin to sort of sketch out the way forward, and get broad agreement that we do need to provide some federal guidelines, and, importantly, some kind of federal mechanism for testing the AI systems to ensure that, in fact, they are meeting the safety requirements, that they do have the boundaries that people agree are necessary.
SEANA SMITH: Senator it sounds like you might be, or are you confident that you are going to be able that lawmakers will be able to get the support here, bipartisan support, to actually pass some meaningful legislation when it comes to AI?
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Well, I hope so. As I said, the devil's in the details. I think you'd find broad agreement even today on some general principles. The challenge always is in translating general principles into more detailed guidelines. But I do think that getting everybody in the room-- and I'm not just talking about, you know, the CEOs and the civil rights groups, I'm also talking about senators from both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats-- to begin to kick around these ideas was an important first step and really unprecedented in many ways.
I think it is an indication that, you know, folks recognize that AI can be transformative, can bring, of course, many positive things to our country and to the world. But also, there are great risks. And so again, a very important first step, but just that, a first step.
AKIKO FUJITA: And Senator, when we talk about tech regulation, you know, we understand that's not a fast process. The issue is always the tech moves quicker than the regulation. And lawmakers in DC have often been criticized for moving too slowly around tech. You look at things like social media, privacy, security there. What are some of the lessons that you've drawn from that? How do you apply that to AI, just given how quickly, especially generative technology, is moving right now?
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Well, I think you put your finger on the fundamental issue, which is trying to make sure that we move more quickly. Technology moves extremely quickly. And I think there is a general consensus that when it comes-- came to things like social media, that the Congress did not move fast enough. In fact, it really hasn't moved. And because we think AI could have, again, these very big risks along with big benefits, that it's important to set these boundaries early.
And there was consensus that the federal government is really the only entity that can do that at the scale necessary and also a sense that it's important for the United States to get its act together so that we are a global leader in terms of setting out these guidelines.
AKIKO FUJITA: Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen joining us from DC today. Really appreciate the time.