Congress faces frenzy of AI fears: ‘The monster is loose’

▪ Trump to remove tariffs on Irish whiskey

▪ Trump wants to keep a hand in Iran oil

Congress returns this week to an eruption of fears about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) spurred by warnings from within the industry that it could take over the internet or even destroy humanity in the near future.

Congressional leaders already appear torn between President Trump ‘s position that any significant regulations risk throttling progress and ceding the AI race to China, and urgent calls for guardrails to ensure the technology does not harm humanity.

The House has just one week left on its calendar before November’s midterm elections. Axios reported that members are urging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to cancel the recess until Congress can pass AI safeguards.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Sunday he supports immediate congressional action .

“We certainly need to begin to act urgently to address the challenges that exist,” Jeffries told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.”

Jeffries noted “action” on AI will be a “high priority” during his caucus’s closed-door meeting on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Johnson urged people not to panic and said lawmakers do not want to smother innovation.

“If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose the race to China, and that is a threat to every single American. So, we’ve got to have balance. We’ve got to have steady hands at the wheel ,” Johnson told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.

Trump sounded a similar note while speaking to reporters at his golf club in Doonbeg, Ireland, on Sunday, saying that guardrails can be installed, but he doesn’t want to lose to China in the process.

“Well, I say this, we’re leading China on AI. We’re the most sophisticated country in the world and frankly I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI, wins,” he said.

The debate comes after AI researchers and leaders took to social media to sound the alarm on the pace of AI growth.

Jacob Coxon , a former Anthropic researcher who also worked for OpenAI, warned on Tuesday that AI could soon destroy humanity.

“Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources,” he wrote on social platform X .

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” he added.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei echoed the warning on Saturday in a blog post titled “We Must Pace the Frontier.” He did not argue for a full stop, but instead that companies should take time to build safeguards.

“I believe that if slowing down bought us even an extra year or two before models reach critical levels of capability, and we used that time to advance alignment, we could greatly reduce the risk that something goes seriously wrong,” he wrote.

He specifically called for “regulation that targets all US frontier AI companies, as that covers even those who are unwilling to cooperate voluntarily.”

Elon Musk of xAI and SpaceX on Saturday said, “Dario is right,” in a post on X. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, also took to social media in support of Amodei’s plea.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) on Sunday told CNN’s Tapper that AI is more powerful than past technologies and therefore requires different standards for regulation.

“This is more akin to Dr. Frankenstein telling us, ‘The monster is loose. Help me stop the monster,’” he said during his “State of the Union” appearance. “Previous tech could not make a decision to kill us, right? When we turned on the internet, it did not have autonomy, right? ”

However, David Sacks , a tech investor who stepped down as the White House AI czar earlier this year, said leading AI companies should take the initiative themselves.

“If the unreleased models are scary enough that you think you should slow down, I support your decision to be responsible. But stop pretending you need anyone else’s permission,” he wrote, lising other issues with Amodei’s post.

“Most of all, stop pretending the motivation to slow down is purely altruistic. You face massive product-liability exposure if your products enable a truly damaging cyberattack,” he added.

Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) during an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” said suggested a methodical approach to the issue.

“This shouldn’t be ready, shoot, aim or shoot, ready, aim. It should be, ‘Let’s find out what exactly we’re talking about here.’ If it is as dire as they say, obviously, it warrants action, but we need to get the facts before we rush in and say, ‘We’ve got a solution,’” the Nebraska Republican told host Chris Stirewalt on Sunday.

Given the president’s wariness of regulations and general partisan gridlock, those calling for urgent action face an uphill battle during this session. But the debate in the coming weeks could offer clues about where Democrats would steer AI regulations if they win back power in November.

Former President Obama sent a message to Jeffries at a private fundraiser on Thursday: “Once you are speaker, I would strongly urge that the Democrats put together a framework for a very public conversation,” he said, The New York Times reports .

And he said candidates vying for president in 2028 make artificial intelligence part of their central agenda.

▪ The Hill : Debate, confusion explodes over AI ‘doomsday’ warnings.

▪ The Hill : Johnson on AI regulation: ‘We don’t need everybody to panic right now.’

▪ The Hill : Jeffries says Congress should ‘act urgently’ on AI safeguards.

Trump will remove tariffs on Irish whiskey , he announced Sunday while visiting Ireland for the Amgen Irish Open golf tournament. The president said he was swayed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Irish golfer Shane Lowry to lift the tax, in a decision Trump referred to as“a favor.”

Asked about potentially impeaching the president , Jeffries told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that should Democrats regain control of the House, he and his colleagues “haven’t ruled anything out.”

Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command , said he is “not concerned at all” about the U.S.’s munitions inventories amid reports that the Pentagon has depleted its stockpiles to fight Iran.

President Trump attends the Irish Open golf tournament at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg, Ireland, on Sept. 13, 2026.

HOT BUTTON : In a meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday, Trump spoke positively about the unification of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is currently part of the United Kingdom.

“I’d love to see it unified,” the president said. “I think that’d be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. It’s going to happen eventually.”

It is atypical for an American president to weigh so directly into one of Europe’s most contentious geopolitical debates. Trump’s decision to break that norm spurred some angry responses, even from his allies across the pond.

Leader of the Reform U.K. party Nigel Farage took to social media to disagree with Trump, writing that the “people of Northern Ireland neither want a referendum, nor unification.”

Gavin Robinson , who heads the U.K.’s Democratic Unionist Party and represents Northern Ireland in Parliament,” wrote on X: “Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington.”

But the president on Sunday doubled down after arriving at Doonbeg’s first tee box.

“I’ve always loved the people of Ireland and it just seems to me that you have Northern Ireland and you have Ireland, and it would seem to me that one of the naturals of all time is put them together … many people agree,” he said.

▪ The Associated Press : Trump’s backing for a united Ireland has reignited a divisive political issue. Here’s what to know.

PACKED AGENDA: The House and Senate are back. The legislative calendar has been cut short following the House’s decision to depart Washington on Thursday for recess and return after the November midterm elections, but there is still a lot to do.

The Senate is set to continue talks on a budget resolution to move closer toward unlocking a third reconciliation bill. The Senate Agriculture Committee will vote on a farm bill that failed to advance last month due to Republican absences and Democratic opposition. The Senate will also hold a procedural vote on the Clarity Act, although it is not expected to have Democrats’ support due to a lack of an ethics provision.

Meanwhile, the House will consider a Russia sanctions bill that has passed the Senate. It will also put the Ratepayer Protection Act on the floor to mitigate the impact of data center costs on household electric bills. It is expected to garner bipartisan support.

▪ The Hill : This week on The Hill: Congress returns to a packed agenda.

LONG HAUL: Trump on Sunday suggested that the U.S. might remain in Iran and “keep the oil,” comparing the potential idea to the recent deal made with Venezuela.

While in Doonbeg, the president reiterated his feelings that the Iran war will finish by the midterms, also stating that Iranian leadership “wants to make a deal so badly, and is calling constantly.”

“We’ll ultimately get out unless we decide to stay and keep the oil, like Venezuela,” the president added.

Late last month, the Trump administration struck a deal with the South American country’s second-largest privately-owned oil producer, North American Blue Energy Partners, giving the U.S. shared control over 17 oil fields in Venezuela.

Iran and it’s proxies have expanded the war in recent days, with tensions flaring in the Strait of Hormuz and the Houthis in Yemen seizing a strategic port along a key Red Sea shipping lane.

The average price of gas in the U.S. hit $4.31 on Sunday, over $1.10 higher than last year’s average, according to data from AAA.

▪ The Hill : President Trump suggests US may stay and keep Iran oil like Venezuela deal.

PUMPING THE BRAKES: GOP concern is growing over the president’s proposed $5,000 dividends, which he announced Wednesday. The president said the money would be dispersed to all U.S. adults should the GOP maintain its control over Congress come November.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) shifted his stance on the dividends, after posting a supportive message on X last week.

“I’m going to bring in all the information, and then make a decision,” Marshall, who is up for reelection, said while debating Democratic opponent Adam Hamilton .

“But look, this is not the first time I’ve disagreed with President Trump, and it probably won’t be the last.”

Marshall isn’t the only GOP lawmaker wary of the proposal, which would cost more than $1 trillion.

“First thing, I think we need to see the proposal, but the priority, in my opinion right now, should be funding our troops and replenishing our munitions before we do anything,” Flood said Sunday during his appearance on “The Hill Sunday.”

A number of GOP deficit hawks were quick to blast Trump’s idea last week.

▪ The Hill : Trump says $5K dividend checks to Americans will ‘happen 100 percent.’

The president holds executive time and policy meetings throughout the day starting at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) speaks at the Republican convention on Sept. 9, 2026, in Dallas, Texas.

BETTING ON TRUMP: Republican leaders in the House are betting that Trump will help the party defy expectations in the midterm elections and maintain control over the lower chamber.

Some political experts are wondering if that’s the right strategy as the president is mired in consistently low approval ratings amid an unpopular war in Iran and high prices at home.

But the GOP’s message was clear at the midterm convention in Texas last week, with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) saying Trump’s “America First agenda is at stake” in the November elections.

“This was designed to activate [the] base, but you can’t help but also wonder if it just further defines MAGA to swing voters — Independents in particular — as a weird, cultish movement, because there was a heavy vibe of that,” Rob Stutzman , a California-based Republican consultant, told The Hill’s Mike Lillis .

A recent poll from Reuters/Ipsos found Trump’s approval rating at the lowest point between his two presidencies. Voters also favored Democrats to take control of the House by an 11-point margin in a Quinnipiac University survey published late last week.

While GOP House leadership is doubling down on the president’s base, some Republican incumbents and candidates are choosing to keep Trump at arm’s length, as they figure out how the president factors into their own political calculus, The Hill’s Julia Manchester reported over the weekend .

▪ The Hill : Trump’s approval ratings endure a cruel summer.

▪ The Hill : Trump political adviser is ‘cautiously optimistic’ about GOP in upcoming midterms.

▪ CBS News : Battleground Tracker poll finds Trump motivating both sides, Democrats have edge in seats in fight for House.

A child plays on top of a deteriorated classic American car in Regla, Cuba, on Sept. 7, 2026.

CUBAN CONCERNS: Leading Cuban political activists are supportive of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against their island nation’s communist regime.

They just want a bigger voice in the process.

That’s what two leading voices in the Cuban opposition and democratic movement told The Hill’s Laura Kelly . José Daniel Ferrer , a Cuban political activist exiled in Miami, and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara , who was released from Cuban prison in July after direct U.S. intervention, were presented the National Endowment for Democracy’s freedom of speech award last week.

“This is perhaps the best chance that something will occur,” Ferrer told The Hill, referring to the Trump administration’s moves against the Cuban regime.

Trump — at least publicly — has not spoken nearly as often in recent months about Cuba as he did after the U.S. toppled Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in early January. The president at the time said Cuba, which shares deep ties with Venezuela, could be next .

But Kelly reports that negotiations over a possible exit of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel have stalled, and what’s next is unclear.

Still, Trump earlier this month posted a map with an American flag emblazoned over most of North America and some Caribbean islands — including Cuba.

▪ The Hill : Trump administration announces new sanctions on Cuba, escalating economic pressure.

▪ The Associated Press : The psychological toll of Cuba’s multiple crises is pushing many islanders to the breaking point.

▪ Miami Herald : How politics in Miami and Cuba killed secret negotiations, U.S. energy deal.

Trump’s coastal grab should alarm all Americans , Christine Todd Whittman writes in The Hill.

Biden and Trump called it a genocide and then turned away , Nicholas Kristof writes in The New York Times.

Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk speaks during a campaign rally, Oct. 24, 2024, in Las Vegas.

And finally … A statue of Charlie Kirk outside of Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) headquarters was vandalized.

TPUSA shared images of the statue and an accompanying sign, which both appear to be defaced with red spray paint. The conservative media organization announced that they would “restore the statue and replace the signs,” adding that they planned to identify those involved.

“But vandalism like this is not funny, it’s diabolical. The incident happened in the middle of the night because evil never sleeps,” the organization wrote in a social media post .

“ Beyond spray painting on the neck and face, they made the intentional decision to cross out the name of Jesus on a nearby sign,” TPUSA added.

Phoenix police responded to the scene and said they were investigating.