White House sends legislative recommendations on national AI policy framework to Congress

Key Takeaways

On March 20, the White House released its Legislative Recommendations for a National Policy Framework on AI, a series of proposals that originated out of the December 2025 Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence that instructed White House advisors to draft and send legislative recommendations to Congress for establishing a national policy framework on AI. 

The release of the framework comes as Congress continues to develop its own legislation on the issue. On March 18, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced an updated discussion draft of the TRUMP AMERICA Act, short for The Republic Unifying Meritocratic Performance Advancing Machine Intelligence by Eliminating Regulatory Interstate Chaos Across America Industry Act. Originally introduced on December 19 2025, the bill seeks to codify many of the principle elements of the White House’s framework.

The White House’s framework calls for adoption of the following seven principles:

1. Protecting children and empowering families
2. Safeguarding and strengthening American communities
3. Respecting intellectual property rights and supporting creators
4. Preventing censorship and protecting free speech
5. Enabling innovation and ensuring American AI dominance
6. Educating Americans and developing an AI-ready workforce
7. Establishing a federal policy framework, preemption cumbersome state AI laws

With the White House having sent its legislative recommendations to Congress, Congress is now tasked with drafting and passing comprehensive legislation to create a national standard on AI. 

Counties are supportive of a national framework that clarifies liability and mitigates risk, provides resources for education and the workforce, and protects consumers from fraud and children from harm. Counties will continue to advocate for a national framework that seeks to work with local government – not against local government – in the establishment of AI policies that protect county residents and preserve residents’ rights.

NACo will continue to engage with federal partners to share county policy priorities on AI and ensure county priorities are included in the legislative process, and provide updates to members as needed.