Bill to ease Big Tech project permits advances in House

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to advance the SPEED Act, which would reform the federal permitting process for projects to build out artificial intelligence infrastructure. The bill is supported by tech companies like OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft, who argue it is key to helping the U.S. compete with China in AI leadership. While Democrats have historically opposed reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act which the SPEED Act would modify, there is now growing bipartisan support to ease the permitting process to facilitate AI infrastructure development.