One rare bipartisan AI bill is moving through Congress. Here’s why it deserves to pass

Capitol Hill is flooded with AI legislation. More than 300 AI bills have been introduced this Congress alone. Some are problematic, many are necessary, but most will go nowhere. There is one bill, however, that should jump the line and move to the President’s desk. The Senate’s recently reintroduced Creating Resources for Every American to Experiment with Artificial Intelligence Act, or CREATE AI Act, represents a rare bipartisan opportunity for lawmakers to advance common-sense legislation and expand America’s ability to win the AI race. The CREATE AI Act would put the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) on permanent footing at the National Science Foundation. A pilot version of the NAIRR has operated since early 2024, supporting more than 600 cutting-edge AI research projects across all 50 states. The NAIRR was launched under the Biden administration, endorsed in the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan and is now championed across the aisle by Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.). The companion House bill, introduced by Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.), continues to gain bipartisan support. This kind of cross-administration, cross-aisle continuity is rare in Washington. The NAIRR pilot removed cost barriers to conducting advanced AI research and served as the foundation of a shared technology ecosystem. Researchers, startups, nonprofits and federal agencies gained access to supercomputing power that most institutions outside the private sector cannot afford. CREATE AI would permanently remove this addressable bottleneck and spark enhanced competition among our nation’s best researchers. AI research capabilities should not be left to industry alone. History shows that the most consequential technological advances emerge from the overlap between academic labs, government-funded research and private industry. That cross-sector co