The US House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a bill giving Congress control over AI chip exports, despite White House opposition.
The US House Foreign Affairs Committee overwhelmingly advanced a bill that would give Congress authority to review and potentially block exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips to China and other adversaries, despite opposition from White House AI czar David Sacks and criticism on social media.
The “AI Overwatch Act,” introduced by Representative Brian Mast of Florida, grants the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Banking Committee 30 days to examine export licences for high-end AI chips, including NVIDIA’s H200 and Blackwell models. 42 committee members voted in favour, two opposed, and one abstained. Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the committee’s ranking member, supported the legislation.
Mast defended the bill, saying the chips are critical to military technology and should not be treated like consumer gaming devices. “This is about the future of military warfare,” he said. Other lawmakers, including Republican Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, dismissed online criticism of the bill as being driven by special interest groups seeking to profit from chip sales.
The bill’s advance comes amid a heated public debate. Sacks reshared claims from social media that the legislation was being orchestrated by “Never Trumpers” and former Obama and Biden staffers to undermine former President Trump’s authority. AI firm Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei has also warned against exporting advanced chips to China, likening it to selling nuclear weapons to North Korea. Conservative activist Laura Loomer labelled the bill “pro-China sabotage disguised as oversight.”
The legislation must still pass the full House and Senate before becoming law, marking a significant step in US efforts to tighten control over critical AI technology exports.
