The AI Overwatch Act should be called the ‘Help Huawei Act’

A measure sponsored by U.S. Rep. Brian Mast is moving through the legislative process in Washington, as it was advanced this week by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The bill, which 19 other members of Congress are co-sponsoring, including three Democrats, would allow Congress to block certain advanced artificial intelligence chip exports to U.S. foreign adversaries, such as Russia and China.

As well-intentioned as that sounds, the bill (H.R. 6875), called the AI Overwatch Act, fails to meet national security muster, targets only isolated American-made AI chips at the benefit of foreign companies, and represents a gift to Chinese development.

If enacted, the measure would tie President Donald Trump’s hands, and those of future Republican Presidents, on critical foreign policy matters related to emerging new technology, all while exempting foreign competitors such as Huawei.

Its narrow scope means the bill would more accurately be called the “Help Huawei Act.”

The “Help Huawei Act” violates Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which, among other things, vests executive power with the President over foreign policy, including regulating exports as part of foreign affairs management.

Further, it would effectively veto licenses Trump has already granted, instead giving members of Congress and the Washington bureaucrats who advise and lobby them the power to control AI chip exports. By doing so, certain foreign affairs activities would lose the ability to be agile and secret, both of which allow for a unified strategy, which is a large reason why the Constitution entrusts foreign relations to the President, and not the legislative branch.

Worse, the bill blatantly singles out only one type of AI chip — graphics processing units (GPUs) pioneered by U.S.-based tech giant NVIDIA. By excluding other types of AI chips from the proposal, the measure is essentially a giveaway to foreign competitors and anyone else making AI chips that don’t have graphics processing functions.

Because the scope is so narrow, it is clear the measure is not a comprehensive national security policy, but rather a biased power grab that would handcuff Trump’s ability to control policy in the AI chip sector. Huawei manufactures chips designed for data centers and other massive AI infrastructure powering, and is a top competitor to NVIDIA.

On its surface, the bill as proposed and debated appears bipartisan. Three of the co-sponsors are Democrats and it cleared the House Foreign Affairs Committee with support from Democratic members. Moreover, Republicans are actually working with Democrats, a rarity in the historically divided Congress. Yet Republicans seeking bipartisan consensus on this issue may be setting themselves up for future headaches.

While Republicans control Congress now, they will not always. The pendulum is always swinging. So by shifting export decisions away from the President today, Republicans in Congress may unwittingly be handing authority to Democrats in the future.

That’s especially important to consider ahead of the 2026 Midterms, as Democrats seek to capitalize on what is historically a cycle favoring the party out of power in the White House, a distinct possibility considering the only very narrow majority the GOP now has.

Taken as a whole, The AI Overwatch Act fails every test. It is constitutionally suspect, economically harmful and strategically unsound. And it’s dealing Trump a setback from within his own party.

When someone tweeted that the measure was “being proposed to take away President Trump’s authority as Commander in Chief and undermine his America First strategy,” tech mega-investor David Sacks perhaps put it best.

“Correct.”