119th Congress · HR.8994 In committee [Congress.gov ↗](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8994) [JSON](https://whovotedwhy.com/data/bills/858b9120a33d2620.json) [Report an error](mailto:hello@jonasneves.com?subject=WhoVotedWhy%20correction%3A%20bill%20hr8994&body=Row%20or%20page%3A%20bill%20hr8994%0AWhat%20is%20wrong%3A%0APrimary%20source%20that%20shows%20it%3A%0A)

# Protect Working Musicians Act of 2026

Summary, written by a model from the CRS summary

Allows small music copyright owners to collectively negotiate, or collectively refuse, music licensing with dominant streaming platforms and generative AI companies.

Model-rated AI relevance 70%: It directly addresses licensing music to generative AI developers. (claude-opus-5-5, Oct 22, 2026)

copyright labor

DR

Sponsored by

[Deborah RossDemocrat NC](https://whovotedwhy.com/politicians/R000305)

Data as of: bills Oct 22, 2026 · votes Oct 21, 2026 · statements Oct 19, 2026. [What changed](https://whovotedwhy.com/data/changes.json)

## Progress

1.  Introduced
    
    May 21, 2026
    
2.  Reported by committee
    
    —
    
3.  Passed House
    
    —
    
4.  Passed Senate
    
    —
    
5.  Became law
    
    —
    

Latest action · May 21, 2026

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

## What members said

Releases that cite this bill first, then releases on the same topics.

[Gus Bilirakis](https://whovotedwhy.com/politicians/B001257) Republican toward oversight Jul 23, 2026 · same topic

Bilirakis backs the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act to require AI web crawlers to identify themselves and let the FTC penalize deceptive scraping of creators' content.

[Source ↗](https://bilirakis.house.gov/media/press-releases/bilirakis-lee-and-foushee-introduce-bipartisan-stealth-bot-prohibition-act)

[Valerie Foushee](https://whovotedwhy.com/politicians/F000477) Democrat toward oversight Jul 23, 2026 · same topic

Foushee supports mandatory bot transparency and FTC/state enforcement against deceptive AI crawlers that scrape content without consent.

[Source ↗](https://foushee.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-foushee-lee-bilirakis-introduce-bipartisan-stealth-bot-prohibition-act-to-increase-transparency-and-combat-deceptive-ai-web-crawlers)

[Laurel Lee](https://whovotedwhy.com/politicians/L000597) Republican toward oversight Jul 23, 2026 · same topic

Lee introduces the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act to impose transparency standards on AI web crawlers, enforced by FTC civil penalties.

[Source ↗](https://laurellee.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-laurel-lee-introduces-bipartisan-stealth-bot-prohibition-act-increase)

[Janice Schakowsky](https://whovotedwhy.com/politicians/S001145) Democrat toward oversight Jul 23, 2026 · same topic

Schakowsky and Warren demand that trade deals not be used by Big Tech to preempt federal and state AI regulation, insisting governments retain the power to hold AI companies accountable.

[Source ↗](https://schakowsky.house.gov/media/press-releases/schakowsky-warren-press-trump-admin-whether-big-tech-lobbyists-are-scheming)

[Jim Banks](https://whovotedwhy.com/politicians/B001299) Republican toward oversight Jul 7, 2026 · same topic

Banks urges Commerce/USPTO action to stop Chinese companies from using AI to scrape U.S. patents and steal American IP.

[Source ↗](https://www.banks.senate.gov/news/press-releases/sen-banks-urges-commerce-department-to-protect-american-innovation-from-chinese-patent-scraping/)

Bill data read 2026-10-22T14:48:01.167Z