A nation's unease with artificial intelligence has arrived at the steps of its legislature, where the ancient tension between urgency and deliberation plays out once more. Congress understands the stakes — that decisions deferred are still decisions made — yet partisan fractures, electoral calendars, and the shadow of global competition with China have conspired to hold action at bay. What emerges from this moment of hesitation will not merely regulate a technology; it will reveal what kind of stewardship a democracy is capable of when the future arrives faster than its institutions can turn.