At a moment when artificial intelligence is reshaping the foundations of economic and national life, the United States Congress finds itself unable to act — caught between the fear of falling behind China and the fear of what unchecked AI might become. Remarkably, some of the industry's own leaders are calling for restraint, creating a rare alignment with safety advocates that history may remember as a window left unopened. Rep. Sam Liccardo's public frustration is less a partisan grievance than a signal that democratic institutions are struggling to move at the speed of the world they are mea