WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick on Wednesday called for faster construction of artificial intelligence infrastructure paired with national child-safety rules, workforce protections and tighter technology controls on China, positioning Pennsylvania as a potential center of the expanding AI economy.
In an address at the Manhattan Institute, the Pennsylvania Republican framed AI policy around five priorities: workers, wealth distribution, child protection, national security and the energy and data-center infrastructure needed to support computing demand.
McCormick argued against both broad restrictions on AI development and an unchecked expansion that shifts costs onto workers, ratepayers and local communities.
“The AI revolution is happening,” McCormick told the institute. “Our task is to harness it for a safer, stronger, and more prosperous America.”
He described competition with China as an “existential race” and urged Congress to block Chinese access to advanced U.S. chips through cloud-computing services. McCormick promoted his Remote Access Security Act as one mechanism for restricting that access.
At the same time, he endorsed a relatively limited domestic regulatory framework, including continued support for open-source and open-weight AI development. He proposed heightened scrutiny for models presenting credible biological, cyber or nuclear risks.
McCormick also urged the federal government and technology industry to develop clearer standards for advanced AI systems, potentially through a self-regulatory structure modeled on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
On employment, McCormick acknowledged that AI will eliminate some jobs while creating others and warned against repeating the economic dislocation associated with globalization. He called for expanded workforce training beyond recently broadened access to short-term Pell Grants and urged employers to prepare workers to use AI alongside existing skills.
The senator also warned that AI-related wealth could become concentrated among companies and investors controlling models, computing capacity and equity. Rather than imposing ownership mandates, he advocated policies that give more Americans a financial stake in the industry’s growth.
McCormick cited Invest America accounts and school-choice tax credits as possible models but offered no detailed proposal for broadening AI ownership.
On child safety, he called for barring social media use by children younger than 16 and prohibiting AI systems designed to groom, sexualize, deceive or exploit minors. He urged Congress and the Trump administration to establish national safeguards rather than relying on a patchwork of state rules.
Much of the address focused on data centers and the energy infrastructure needed to power them, an increasingly contentious issue in Pennsylvania and other states.
McCormick maintained that the country must build additional generating capacity, transmission infrastructure and semiconductor supply to compete globally. He cited an estimated $1.5 trillion in infrastructure investment delayed by permitting and promoted his Unlock American Energy and Jobs Act as a way to accelerate projects.
He also acknowledged growing public opposition to data centers, including concerns about electricity rates, water use, land consumption and limited transparency from developers.
“No American should face higher power or water bills or have a hulking facility dropped into his backyard,” McCormick stated.
He criticized developers that have acquired property through shell companies or withheld information about proposed facilities, arguing that industry conduct has contributed to local resistance.
McCormick proposed a four-part agreement between developers and host communities: companies should fund their own power and transmission needs, limit environmental impacts, provide local economic benefits and disclose projected power, water, land and tax requirements early in the approval process.
Developers should also avoid seeking tax abatements and other preferential treatment, hire locally and invest in schools, businesses and community infrastructure, according to the senator.
McCormick pointed to planned gas-fired generation projects at Homer City and Shippingport as examples of energy investments connected to data-center development. He also cited Blackstone and QTS as developers engaging communities and investing in infrastructure, workers and local tax bases.
The senator argued that communities rejecting data centers without considering their potential benefits could lose investment and employment opportunities. He offered no universal policy for determining when local costs outweigh those gains.
McCormick closed by calling for greater coordination among government, industry, capital and labor, comparing the effort required for AI leadership to the industrial mobilization preceding World War II.
He cited the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit held in Pittsburgh last year, where government and business leaders presented commitments totaling $92 billion and projected tens of thousands of jobs.
“Embrace the future without leaving workers behind, protect our children without freezing innovation, broaden prosperity without abandoning capitalism, and beat China without sacrificing the liberties that distinguish us,” McCormick stated.
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