Congress is trying to crack open the iron grip Tesla, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have on the Pentagon’s AI and cloud infrastructure.
According to Bloomberg, two senators—Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri—are bringing back a bill aimed at forcing open competition in the Department of Defense’s tech contracts.
They’re reintroducing the Protecting AI and Cloud Competition in Defense Act on Thursday, with a similar bill being filed in the House of Representatives for the first time.
The legislation would require that every cloud or AI deal worth $50 million or more go through competitive bidding. That means the Pentagon would no longer be able to quietly hand out massive contracts to the same companies over and over again.
The bill also says the Defense Department needs to remove obstacles that block startups and smaller contractors from applying for these jobs in the first place. Warren said in a statement, “It’s a mistake to let Silicon Valley monopolize our AI and cloud computing tools because it doesn’t just stifle innovation, it increases costs and threatens our national security.”
Senators push for fairer rules in Pentagon AI contracts
Both Warren and Schmitt sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which deals directly with military matters. They first introduced the bill at the very end of the Biden administration in December, but it didn’t move forward. Now, with President Trump back in office and fresh procurement policies from the White House encouraging more tech competition, they’re giving it another shot.
Lawmakers from both parties have been getting more vocal about needing the US to boost its AI capabilities, but there’s also real worry that doing it through just four major tech firms will only increase their power.
These companies—Tesla with its AI computing platforms, Amazon through AWS, Microsoft via its long-standing defense deals, and Google under Alphabet’s control—already dominate the space. The fear is that they’ll keep winning by default, even if newer, smaller companies have better ideas or cheaper offers.
The White House’s updated procurement rules are helping fuel momentum for the bill. These changes focus on creating a “competitive AI marketplace,” which aligns closely with what Warren and Schmitt are demanding.
Congress wants to see contracts opened up and competition restored before the same small group of firms ends up running the military’s future tech backbone.
That future includes everything from data infrastructure to AI-powered weapons systems, and lawmakers don’t want it controlled by firms with private profit motives. The bill’s reintroduction marks the latest push to stop Tesla and its tech peers from consolidating more power inside the US military machine.
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