Congress orders a study of AI risks in phone and internet networks.
H.R. 7294 — AI for Secure Networks Act · Filed by Robert Menendez (D-NJ) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 30, 2026 · Reported out
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What it does
The bill tells the Secretary of Commerce to study how AI can help protect phone and internet networks. The study must look at both good things AI can do and bad risks it might create. The Secretary must talk to the FCC and phone and internet firms. The Secretary must publish findings within one year. The public can comment before the report goes to Congress.
Who it affects
People who use phones and the internet get a study of AI safety in networks. Phone and internet firms will be asked to share facts for the study.
One thing to notice
The study will look at both how AI can help protect networks and what risks AI creates.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 4 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Jan 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 30, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
- Sep 1, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 37 - 0”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 1 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $3,050,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 26 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.
Robert Menendez, who sponsored the bill, received $781,384 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Verizon Communications Inc and Various Subsidiaries — $3,050,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- AI — Computer programs that learn and make choices like a person would.
- FCC — The government group that makes rules for phone and internet firms.
- Secretary of Commerce — A top official who helps run trade and business in the U.S.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,349 characters) on Apr 14, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,778 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-11-01.
“Congress orders a study of AI risks in phone and internet networks.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr7294/simple Report an error
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