Mystic Alerts Act

Mr. President, we are about to go back to our States, to recess sometime tonight or tomorrow, and then to proceed to the general election.

And there is an issue that hangs over the American people that concerns me, and I am sure concerns all of my colleagues, but on which we likely won't act before we adjourn.

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and I are the cosponsors of the AI Whistleblower Protection Act, and it is one of a dozen urgently needed and important bills that would inject some guardrails, protections, and accountability into the rapidly advancing technology of AI.

Why is this a concern for me? Because in recent days, in recent weeks, there have been alarming incidents of AI agents breaking out of their containment sandboxes, taking on actions that even their designers and developers couldn't predict and can't fully explain.

And in recent days, the titans of the AI industry--folks like Sam Altman from Open AI or Demis Hassabis from Google DeepMind or Dario Amodei from Anthropic--have been saying AI is improving itself so fast that we are at risk of it exceeding the capabilities of humans to control it--frankly, even to understand it.

So for those of you watching who might want to get tuned in to the debate and to the discussion, to be better informed, to be better engaged, I want to recommend a movie I just saw. It has got an unusual title. It is called ``The AI Doc: Or how I Became an Apocaloptimist.''

And the director, Daniel Roher, is a documentary maker who is facing being a parent for the first time, and he is trying to get his head around alternating depictions, predictions of doom, literally the extinction of the human race, or a utopia where AI will unlock the secrets to cheap, abundant, clean fusion energy or solve all the diseases, cancer, and other ravages known to mankind.

And in the course of an hour and a half, this very capable documentarian interviews dozens of the leading commentators, technology leaders, business leaders, civil society leaders, and researchers.

The first 20 minutes of the movie was so depressing I had to turn it off. It was so clearly predicting and making a compelling case for the imminent end of the human species at the hands of artificial intelligence that it became overwhelming. The next 30 minutes does the opposite. It gives you the most optimistic view possible: apocalypse or optimism.

And we here in the Senate and in the executive branch and in the House have a responsibility to reasonably, responsibly regulate in a timely way. There are so many dangerous technologies developed in the last century where we put guardrails around them, whether it was jet airplanes or nuclear energy, automobiles or the banking system.

I was in a terrible car accident end of June. I am here today because of airbags and seatbelts. Those were first advocated by safety folks like Ralph Nader. The Big Three auto companies mostly resisted. Why do we need seatbelts? When airbags came out, why the extra cost?

I was in a five-car accident where all five vehicles were totaled and every passenger walked away. And as I walked away, as I walked out of the hospital, I said to a friend: Thank God. What a miracle.

And he turned to me and said: And thanks for the seatbelts and the airbags.

When you get on an airplane and fly across the country, none of us probably can explain exactly how it works, exactly what the technology is. But we know that it has been maintained. It has been designed, maintained, funded, and flown by a tightly regulated group of people.

Airline pilots operate under very strict standards. Those who maintain and operate airplanes operate under very strict standards. That is why we don't have tragic disasters all the time.

So there are some good, concrete, bipartisan ideas for how we can inject some responsibility: some third-party auditing; some traceable records of what is happening, what has been done; some predeployment testing.

Earlier this week, I introduced my bipartisan AI Systems Transparency Act with Senators Lankford and Britt and Schatz; four Senators--two Republicans, two Democrats, from very different backgrounds-- introducing a bill to require transparency about what is driving these AI models so we can better study them, test them, and understand them.

There are lots of other good ideas that other Members have, but we, unfortunately, have a President who has said that the risks of AI are a hoax and, while hosting the titans of the AI industry, has refused to take seriously the idea that we in any way should meaningfully regulate this industry.

I understand we are in a dire competition with China. I agree with the assertion that the society or country that wins the race to frontier AI will have a decided advantage in national security, in science, in industry, in business of all kinds.

But we can and should do both: compete against China, invest in frontier models, and have responsible safety to prevent the worst scenarios from coming true.

We are able to do this in banking, to give one other example. Delaware, where I am from, is a major banking center. Every one of the largest banks in America has major operations in Delaware, and they operate under some real restrictions.

There are OCC and FDIC inspectors, regulators in every bank. They are required to follow know-your-customer laws, anti-money laundering standards. And after the 2008 to 2009 crisis, no one from the banking industry comes to me and says: We need a lighter touch regulation.

They understand that safety and soundness--the rule of law--allows the United States to have deep capital markets and safety.

Artificial intelligence is transforming our world, and whether it is adopting the AI whistleblower app that Senator Grassley and I are advocating for or it is adopting the AI Systems Transparency Act that Senator Britt and I and other colleagues are advocating for or other bipartisan bills, when we return in what will likely be a period of greater anxiety about AI, we need to act.

We need to take up legislation and move forward reasonable and responsible regulation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act.

Emergency alerting capabilities have come a long way in recent decades as a direct byproduct of innovation and breakthroughs in wireless technology.

Not long ago, 911 calls predominantly were made from landline phones, and emergency alerts were received primarily over broadcast television and radio channels.

Both capabilities still exist and have an important role in emergency communications, but I expect for most Americans, they make their 911 calls and receive their emergency alerts on their cell phone, a smartphone.

The creation of the Wireless Emergency Alert, or WEA, in 2012 marked a significant leap forward in our ability to disseminate warning and alert messages to the public.

Prior to 2012, Americans needed to already be tuned into broadcast programming to receive an alert being distributed for any number of important situations. In the case of a hurricane or a winter storm that was forecasted in advance, for instance, the Emergency Alert System was critical for broadly distributing public safety updates and instructions to viewers. But we know that not all emergencies announce themselves days in advance.

All across the country, natural disasters like tornadoes, wildfires, and flash floods show up with little or no advance warning. One tragedy after another has demonstrated that when a wildfire spreads or floodwaters rise rapidly without warning, being able to push emergency warning information out directly to cell phones in a danger zone is one of the most powerful tools we have to save lives.

The WEA system allows alerting authorities at nearly every level of government the ability to reach Americans where they are. Cell phones are ubiquitous today, and if we avoid falling into the traps of unclear and overalerting, it will only continue to be more effective as wireless providers and alerting authorities take steps forward to improve geotargeting and location accuracy.

H.R. 7022 directs the FCC to take steps that will open up the WEA system so that satellite communication providers can leverage direct- to-cell capabilities to deliver wireless emergency alerts to cell phones in terrestrial dead zones where mobile carriers don't have coverage.

This is incredibly important for Americans who enjoy spending time in our beautiful national parks and forests, skiing in the mountains, and exploring other natural areas where connectivity is limited but where being without emergency information can be deadly, as we saw with Mystic this summer.

I thank Representatives Fletcher and Pfluger for their leadership on this effort to not only expand the reach of lifesaving emergency alerts but to turn tragedy into a victory to ensure more families don't suffer the same tragedy.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7022, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, in closing, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the bipartisan H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act introduced by Congressman Pfluger.

Public safety is one of Congress' most serious responsibilities, and this bill addresses a clear and urgent gap in our emergency communication system. Recent disasters have reminded us that when lives are on the line, emergency alerts must work immediately, reliably, and everywhere.

But too often, that is not guaranteed. In moments of crisis, terrestrial communication networks can be damaged, overloaded, or simply unavailable. When that happens, families may not receive the warnings they need until it is too late.

Like Congressman Pfluger, my family was directly impacted by the Camp Mystic flooding in Texas. As we all know, I had two granddaughters who were there. They lost one of their cousins, Janie Hunt.

That tragedy showed in the clearest possible terms how fast conditions can deteriorate and how devastating the consequences can be when warnings do not reach people in time.

The Mystic Alerts Act takes an important step forward by directing the FCC to establish standards and requirements for delivering emergency alerts through satellite connectivity. That means building redundancy into the system so that when traditional networks fail, alerts can still get through.

That matters for rural communities. It matters for disaster zones. It matters for places where geography, infrastructure damage, or network congestion can leave people isolated at the worst possible moment. It matters for every American who expects that, in an emergency, the government will do everything it can to get critical warnings into their hands.

This legislation will help modernize our emergency alerting framework, strengthen resilience, and improve our ability to save lives during floods, wildfires, hurricanes, and other disasters. It also honors the victims of the Camp Mystic flood by ensuring that we will not simply mourn tragedy but learn from it and act.

I commend Congressman Pfluger for his leadership and for bringing forward a practical, bipartisan solution. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act.

Mr. President, on July 4, 2025, Central Texas experienced a once-in-a-century flooding event that caused the waters of the Guadalupe River to rise a shocking 26 feet in just 45 minutes. Homes were washed away, trees were toppled, streets were swallowed up, and communities in central Texas were ravaged, bringing an entire State to our knees.

The raging and merciless waters took the lives of 139 people, including 27 young girls who went to Camp Mystic in Kerr County. On that day, Heaven gained too many angels.

Even more shattering to think about is the reality that lives could have been saved if we had only had sufficient systems in place to deliver wireless emergency alerts to individuals in the danger zone after electricity and cell service were knocked out by the storm. That is why I introduced the Mystic Alerts Act along with Congressman August Pfluger to ensure Texans and all Americans can receive wireless emergency alerts on their mobile devices via satellite even when cellular networks are compromised. This legislation, which passed the House unanimously earlier this year, would help shore up this vulnerability and would undoubtedly save lives.

When disaster strikes, every second matters. Access to timely weather alerts would have given more Texans the runway needed to find higher ground before it was too late.

We couldn't save these 139 lives more than a year ago, but we will never be able to make things right for the families that continue to grieve unless we take a chance to honor the memories of those who lost their lives and their families and to prevent the horrors from hopefully ever happening again.

I urge my colleagues to allow this bill to advance to the President's desk tonight.

Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 7022 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7022) to provide for the transmission of emergency alerts by satellite, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act, led by Representative Pfluger.

While we work to increase cell phone connectivity across the country, there are and may always be certain areas of this country that do not have access to that connectivity.

That can be a problem in times of natural disasters or other emergencies. If you don't have a connection, you may not be able to receive a wireless emergency alert or other emergency notifications. Satellite technology is beginning to bridge that gap with our

cell phones, and it could bring a huge benefit for public safety.

This legislation would kick-start the process for mobile service providers to utilize satellite connectivity to send alert messages in areas that may not have access to terrestrial cell network coverage.

This legislation has strong bipartisan support. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), my good friend.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia for her support of this bill. I, too, encourage all Members to vote for H.R. 7022 for immediate passage, and I yield back the balance of my time.