House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie said the bipartisan Great American AI Act is unlikely to receive a committee markup before the 2026 midterm elections, while arguing that U.S. AI leadership against China should take precedence over rules that could constrain innovation. Speaking Wednesday at the POLITICO Decoded Summit in Washington and reiterating his position on September 16, the Kentucky Republican warned against an approach modeled on what he described as Europe’s restrictive regulatory framework. As of September 2026, the bill remained stalled before markup, which is the committee stage for debating amendments and voting on whether to advance legislation to the full House. The panel has instead focused on data-center energy costs and narrower competitiveness measures involving chips, open-source AI, and quantum computing.