In the News

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will hold his inaugural meeting with a new House Democratic commission on AI this week — a sign that Democrats are getting ready to ramp up their work on AI policy issues ahead of the midterms.

It’s not immediately clear which members will be attending the session, but the newly formed House Democratic Commission on AI and the Innovation Economy is being led by Reps. Ted Lieu of California, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Valerie Foushee of North Carolina.

A Democrat-led push to extend recently expired Obamacare subsidies cleared a procedural hurdle in the House on Wednesday with support from nine Republicans, teeing up a final vote later this week.

The House voted 221-205 in favor of a motion to discharge a bill that, if passed by the House and Senate, would extend enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act health insurance plan holders for three years. 

On the one-year anniversary of the Southern California wildfires, elected officials from Los Angeles County and across the state renewed their calls for additional federal disaster aid to help communities impacted by the Palisades and Eaton fires continue to recover.

House Democrats are forming a commission on artificial intelligence to position themselves as leaders on the issue as AI companies train their focus — and campaign contributions — on Washington, D.C.

The House Democratic Commission on AI and the Innovation Economy, set to begin meeting this month, will work with AI companies, stakeholders and congressional committees that oversee aspects of the sector to help develop policy expertise.

California Rep. Ted Lieu, vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Tuesday that attacking shipwrecked survivors is a crime of war, and that any member of the U.S. military involved in such actions — including Defense secretary Pete Hegseth — should be punished.

“I served on active duty as a JAG for four years, and then an additional 21 years in the reserves. And let me be very clear: Killing shipwrecked survivors is a war crime,” he told reporters in the Capitol.

Rep. Ted Lieu, vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said the Department of Justice must conduct an investigation into a second strike of a vessel accused of trafficking drugs off the coast of Venezuela.

Lieu, who served in the United States Air Force JAG corps, said killing shipwreck survivors is a war crime.

He said the DOJ’s investigation should also include a review of Hegseth’s actions as defense secretary.

Meanwhile, at the Democrats press conference earlier, representative Ted Lieu of California called on Pete Hegseth to resign, saying the defense secretary lied about the second strike on the suspected drug-smuggling boat and “and threw Admiral Bradley under the bus”.

A handful of US representatives have reacted furiously to a leaked recording in which the special envoy to Ukraine reportedly coached Moscow on how to handle Donald Trump, but most have so far remained mute on the revelation that American officials were advising a US adversary.