'Takes away states’ power': Sarah Huckabee Sanders goes on surprise attack against Trump-backed bill
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Republican Jewish Coalition's 2023 Annual Leadership Summit at the Venetian Convention & Expo Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 27, 2023 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a major ally of President Donald Trump, serving as the second of four White House press secretaries during his first term before being elected to her current position. And she is supporting his "big, beautiful bill" — with a notable exception.
In a Thursday morning, June 26 post on X, formerly Twitter, the Republican governor endorsed Trump's megabill overall but called for a provision on AI (artificial intelligence) to be removed from it.
"I strongly support President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill," Sanders tweeted, "but Congress burying a provision to strip away the right of any state to regulate AI is the antithesis of what our Founders envisioned…. I want America to win the fight against China — on AI and everything else. That's why I was the first governor in the country to kick Communist China off our farmland and out of my state. But we won't win against China if we sacrifice the health, safety, and prosperity of our own people."
Sanders added, "We must curb AI's worst excesses while also encouraging its growth, which is exactly what states like mine are doing. Some conservative Republicans are standing up and fighting back."
The Republicans Sanders cited as "fighting back" included Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and the House Freedom Caucus.
In her tweet, Sanders described the AI-related part of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 as an attack on states' rights.
"The One Big Beautiful Bill will be one of President Trump's proudest legislative achievements and power his vision of American greatness," Sanders posted. "But it should not include Congress' provision that takes away states' power to protect its citizens. Congress should pass President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill and continue to allow states to be what our founders intended them to be.
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