President Donald Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” was passed in the US House of Representatives by a narrow vote of 215-214. This massive law (over 1,000 pages in total) uses a complex congressional procedure known as “budget settlements” to allow the Senate to pass it with fewer votes than is normally required.
Most attention on this budget bill is focused on issues such as tax law, Medicaid, and immigration. However, there are more hidden hidden in the House of Representatives’ settlement proposal, including two provisions that harm voters and threaten the rule of law.
Attack on the Judicial Branch
The first of these outrageous policies, buried in Section 70302 of the Act, would severely limit the power to lightly empty government officials if federal court powers violate judicial orders.
The ability of a court to lightly empty the misconduct is an important enforcement power that judges can use to force them to comply with their judgment.
When someone chooses to violate a court order, the judge who issued the trial has several different options for enforcing them, such as light emptying as a punishment, fines, and even holding prison time as a punishment.
However, the settlement bill would require a person to sue the government to pay the bonds before the court uses its light empt powers to enforce an injunction or restraining order to halt illegal activities.
By limiting this power, the House bill threatens the power of the Judicial Branch. In itself, it represents an attack on the rule of law and the separation of power underlying our democracy. However, in the context of our current political moment, a more specific goal is unfortunately clear.
The court has sent at least 170 sentences against the Trump administration, including a preliminary injunction sought by the CLC, which halted Trump’s unconstitutional attempt to change federal election rules. In response to many of these rulings, the president resisted compliance and launched a threat campaign targeting the person in charge.
In light of all this, the House bill seems straightforward and unacceptable to protecting the Trump administration from accountability when it breaks the law.
Worse, the new rules are so broad that government actors can avoid being liable for breaching the court’s decision. It also applies to court orders and injunctions issued before the law becomes effective. This will not immediately enforce thousands of previous orders across the country through light emptying procedures, no matter how much the people already rely on them.
This provision cannot bear it.
Government officials, including the president, cannot simply ignore court decisions that find their actions unlawful or unconstitutional. The rule of law and our democracy itself depend on it.
Flood of false information in elections
The second problematic provision in section 43201(c) of the House Settlement Bill imposes a 10-year ban on enforcement of all state and local laws regulating artificial intelligence (AI), including rules for using AI in political campaigns and elections.
Today, more than 20 states have already enacted laws to address the misinformation and manipulation of elections that are easily created by new AI tools. These laws aim to address the real challenges of our democracy, like fake content that misleads voters about candidates and issues.
As technology develops, the public has already seen how AI can be used to portray non-real events, discourage participation in elections, and create incorrect entry for election interference.
To protect voters from these harms, the CLC and others have called on Congress to pass strong laws regulating the use of AI in a democratic process. However, Congress has so far failed in action.
In that void, states across the country have strengthened and enacted safeguards, including banning AI from intentionally using voters and requesting disclaimers to notify the public when election ads use content manipulated or generated by AI.
If the House settlement package was allowed to override these state laws, Congress not only failed its own obligation to regulate AI, but also actively prevented other lawmakers from protecting their constituents.
Simply put, a 10-year ban on enforcing AI laws nationwide could mean 10 years of misinformation that undermines voters’ rights to make informed decisions. It’s more than misguided, and is totally dangerous to the future of truth and trust in our elections.
American democracy already faces unprecedented challenges. The rule of law is under attack, but public trust in elected leaders and government agencies continues to decline. If Congress enacted these two provisions buried in the House Budget Bill, the situation would only get worse.
For these reasons, the CLC urges the Senate to remove these policies. These policies will not consider legislation or vote if the entire package remains. We support our work as we continue to fight to protect the rule of law and democracy.
