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Yes, and: Don't miss our analysis of key bills to watch in the lame duck across health care, energy and tech.

This bill was first seen by Health Care Policy Reporter Victoria Knight.

Sens. Mike Rounds and Martin Heinrich are introducing a bill Thursday that would create a pandemic preparedness and response program at HHS that uses artificial intelligence, their offices told Axios.

Why it matters: It's one of the first health-related bills among the AI legislation that's being rolled out by the senators in Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's bipartisan AI working group.

What's inside: The MedShield Act would create a program at HHS aimed at using current and evolving AI technologies in a single continuously operating system to address five pandemic prevention and response needs.

This story was exclusively broken by Energy Policy Reporter Daniel Moore.

Rep. Troy Balderson plans to introduce a bill today that would require U.S. energy regulators to expedite power plant projects that are stuck in a power grid black hole.

Why it matters: Grid authorities have seen a surge in proposed power projects as developers seek sites for renewable energy.

• Wait times ballooned to a median of five years in 2023, up from less than two years from 2000 to 2007.
  

Congress cut their time in session short yesterday, leaving for recess until after the election. We checked in with lawmakers before they headed out to see where things stand on tech policy.

Read the full story for perspectives from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. Mike Rounds, Rep. John Moolenaar and more.

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