WATCH: Schiff Hails Bipartisan Cooperation on New Bill to Create Federal Film Tax Incentive, Emphasizes Need for Congress to Take Action to Regulate AI on CNN’s The Story Is[...]

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined CNN's The Story Is with Elex Michaelson to discuss the introduction of his new bill with Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act, to create the nation's first federal film tax incentive to help keep film and television production in the United States.

The Senator highlighted support from Congressional Republicans and President Trump as evidence of a pathway to get the bill signed into law by the end of this year.

He also discussed the importance of Congress taking action to regulate artificial intelligence and the need for the United States to come to an agreement with China on AI.

View the full interview here.

Key Excerpts:

On Republican support for creating a federal film tax incentive:

[…] I think a lot of the Republicans were supportive of this. I've been having conversations with them for the last two years, and in the House for many, many years before that. What it really took was the president issuing a statement of support. I think they were waiting for a signal from the White House that if they got on board with this, they would have the president's backing, and he did issue that statement. It was a full-throated endorsement of this bill, and that really moved things forward. Then it was just a question of hammering out some last-minute provisions, we already had a very good draft. I've had that for you know the last couple of years, and we also obviously worked with our Democratic and Republican counterparts in the House so that when we introduced the bill today, it was not only bipartisan but also in both houses, and that just gives us that much stronger chance for passage.

On working with the White House, Trump administration, and stakeholders:

We've been working closely with the White House, and Spencer Pratt has been very helpful. John Voight has been very helpful. They've been, I think, very good liaisons with the White House. And my understanding is that we have sign-off of all the stakeholders on the terms of this bill. That's what we were really working towards. We want to make sure that nobody had any poison pills, no deal breakers, and I think we're all in alignment on this, and not just the parties and the White House, but also labor and the guilds. This is really quite a remarkable achievement to have everybody on the same page on this pretty complicated issue.

On pathway to get the bill across the finish line:

I think the finish line is in sight. We really need to strike while the iron is hot. It's not going to happen before the election. The House is already out of session, but we're going to come back in after the election for what's called a lame duck session. It is my hope that we get it done then. That's our best opportunity. We don't want to wait until next year when this party or that might lose interest or we might lose momentum. So, it's really important that we do our best to get it done. And it's not difficult to see that pathway. It might get taken up on its own, or more likely, it will get added to a bill that's already moving. Either approach is fine with me, just so long as we get it done.

On the need for Congress to take action on artificial intelligence:

There's bipartisan concern, frankly, with how AI is developing-the speed, the sophistication, the lack of control over AI, even by the companies that are producing it and on the leading edge. When you see, as OpenAI did, its own AI chatbot agents talking to themselves, posting messages to themselves, saying, "we're beholden to no corporation, no government, we are not subservient, we are, you know, on a par with our clients." Then it's really cause for alarm. I think people here are alarmed, but I also feel, Elex, in terms of seeing a finish line here, we have a terrible record in the Congress of regulating technology, even when there's palpable harm, as we have seen with social media and what it's done to our kids, we cannot afford to have that same dysfunctional approach when it comes to AI because it's just too dangerous.

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