Cybersecurity Policy Report, 107 Democrats Say House Should Cancel Recess to Work on AI Security Legislation, (Sep 16, 2026)
The number of House Democrats demanding that Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) cancel an upcoming recess “to enable Congress to take urgent action to address catastrophic risk posed by advanced artificial intelligence” has risen to 107.
“Reasonable minds may disagree about precisely how Congress should regulate this rapidly evolving technology. We cannot disagree about the imperative for Congress to act,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Speaker Johnson. The letter had four signatures when it was first released on Monday but remained open for additional signatures (CPR, Sept. 14).
The letter cites recent revelations from AI developers about swarms of rogue AI agents that decided on their own to conduct cyber attacks.
“A series of proposals have emerged from our colleagues that deserve consideration, public debate, thoughtful amendment, and action. They include bills mandating transparency and evaluation of frontier models, ‘kill switch’ requirements, and a waiver of antitrust laws to enable critical industry-wide collaboration on safety and security,” the Democrats told Speaker Johnson.
AI security legislation was not on the agenda for this week’s House session, and after this week the House is scheduled to go into recess until Nov. 9.
“While AI safety experts and Americans increasingly urge action to confront this conflagration of risk, Congress fiddles. When we did return to work after the August recess, we consumed floor time with debates and votes on performative resolutions opposing socialism. After next week, the House resumes its vacation—for another six weeks,” the lawmakers noted.
Rep. Sam Liccardo (D., Calif.), who led his colleagues in sending the letter, compared Speaker Johnson to Nero, the Roman emperor who, according to lore, fiddled while a fire consumed parts of Rome.
“While we’re seeing this firestorm of concern throughout the country around AI safety, we’ve got Speaker Johnson fiddling, and at least Nero had the decency to stay in town while Rome burned,” Rep. Liccardo said today in a statement. “Speaker Mike Johnson is shutting down Congress for seven weeks. The American people need action, not vacation.”
Speaker Johnson yesterday defended his approach to the AI security issue in a news briefing. “Here's the problem. If I called an emergency session today, and I brought everybody in the House and said, ‘Let's regulate AI,’ nobody in the room knows yet what that should look like. Why? Because we don’t have the latest information,” he told reporters.
He expressed support for independent auditors to assess the security risks of new AI models and more transparency from AI developers but reiterated concerns that too much regulation would undermine the U.S. lead in AI development.
Within the next week, Speaker Johnson said, the White House will convene a meeting with top AI executives and lawmakers to discuss AI security issues. He scoffed at concerns that AI might destroy humanity within a decade.
“You’re not all going to be dead in 10 years,” he said. “AI is serious. We do need to make sure that it’s done safely. But let’s apply common sense. If you are a company—if you’re a corporation in America, including a tech corporation—you have a responsibility to make safe products. We have all sorts of federal laws and regulations that already insist upon that.”
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