Extemp Practice Bank — Science and Technology (USX + IX)

Prepared August 22, 2026 · 10 questions · 5 USX / 5 IX, labeled per question · Window: stories live since late February 2026 Forms: 2 What · 2 Should · 2 Will/Can · 2 Is/Are · 2 How/Did

The questions

1. Should Congress preempt state laws governing AI development? — USX · Should
2. Are data centers driving up Americans' electricity bills? — USX · Is/Are
3. Did AI cause the collapse in entry-level hiring for young graduates? — USX · How/Did
4. Should states bar minors from AI companion chatbots? — USX · Should
5. Can NASA land astronauts on the Moon by 2028? — USX · Will/Can
6. Will Chinese open-weight models become the world's default AI? — IX · Will/Can
7. Is the United Nations the right venue for governing frontier AI? — IX · Is/Are
8. What has delaying the AI Act cost Europe's standing as the world's tech regulator? — IX · What
9. How have US export controls changed China's AI industry? — IX · How/Did
10. What does the hidden death in China's gene-editing trial mean for how bespoke therapies are regulated? — IX · What

How to use this bank

Draw an envelope of three, prep thirty minutes, speak seven. Read and file the sources under a question before draw day — they are the prep, not the speech. Every question can be argued either way from its own sources; the tag after each link says which side that piece serves. Each question carries its division label, so a coach can pull the five USX questions for a domestic round and the five IX questions for an international one, or mix them for practice.

Two notes on sourcing. The window here is roughly six months rather than the usual ninety days, because science and tech policy runs on statutes, budget requests, and compliance deadlines rather than daily news — a strict ninety-day cut would drop the primary documents these speeches need. Every question still carries at least two sources from the last sixty days. Dates marked ~ are approximate because the outlet showed no precise publication date; check before saying one aloud.

Storylines in play

• Congress is fighting over preemption again. Reps. Obernolte and Trahan floated a 269-page draft that would freeze state laws on AI development for three years while leaving deployment rules alone (Roll Call, Jun 4) — and drew fire from both directions.
• States kept legislating anyway — 109 AI laws and 28 data center laws enacted by July 1 (TechPolicy.Press, ~Jul 21).
• The data center backlash reached the biggest market. Abbott ordered an audit that froze new Texas grid connections (Texas Tribune, Aug 3); New York's one-year moratorium is in effect and Oregon Democrats have proposed three years.
• But the causal evidence cuts both ways — an EPRI study finds data centers modestly lowered average prices, while a Dallas Fed paper finds wholesale prices up 2–6%.
• The entry-level jobs gap widened. Stanford's revised Canaries paper puts employment for 22–25-year-olds in AI-exposed occupations 19% below trend, up from 13% (Stanford Digital Economy Lab, Aug 17) — while other economists blame remote work and note heavy AI adopters hired more.
• Companion chatbots became the newest child-safety frontier, with California, New York, Idaho, Oregon and Washington laws now on the books and wrongful-death litigation reshaping the legal ground.
• Kimi K3 landed. Moonshot released a 2.8-trillion-parameter open-weight model on July 17 and published the weights on July 27; Chinese models now run roughly 60% of US companies' token volume on OpenRouter (Forbes, Jul 27).
• The UN convened all 193 member states on AI for the first time in Geneva on July 6–7, with a scientific panel warning there are no technical guarantees that agent systems follow instructions (UN News, Jul 7).
• Europe blinked on its own law. The Digital Omnibus pushed high-risk AI Act obligations from August 2, 2026 to December 2027 and August 2028 (Center for Cyber Diplomacy, Aug 10).
• Export controls tightened and backfired at once. Commerce closed the offshore-subsidiary loophole on May 31 (CNBC, May 31), even as Huawei's Ascend line took an estimated half of China's AI chip market.
• A hidden death surfaced in gene editing. Science and Retraction Watch revealed a six-year-old girl died in 2025 after a one-patient base-editing trial in Shanghai that never went to national regulators (Science, Jul 23).
• Artemis reshuffled. NASA's FY27 request puts $8.5B into Artemis and cuts $3.4B from science; the first landing slipped to Artemis IV or V in 2028, against China's 2030 target.

Questions

1. Should Congress preempt state laws governing AI development?

Division: USX · Form: Should · Positions: A — yes, one federal standard beats fifty conflicting regimes and is the only way to get frontier oversight enacted; B — no, states are the only governments actually legislating, and preemption strips protections without guaranteeing a replacement

1. Bipartisan AI draft proposes three-year preemption of state laws — Roll Call, 2026-06-04 · [Background] What the draft actually preempts: development, not deployment, with a three-year sunset; names the California laws that would fall.
2. Lawmakers propose AI framework that would preempt state laws for 3 years — Nextgov/FCW, 2026-06-04 · [Background] The four pillars — frontier governance, workforce data, cybersecurity, R&D — and early industry reaction.
3. AI Preemption Battle Lands in Congress With Substantive Discussion Draft — Broadband Breakfast, 2026-06-05 · [B] Worker and consumer advocates argue preemption strips tools states already use — the argument that killed last year's moratorium.
4. A view from DC: A bipartisan blockbuster bill on AI — IAPP, 2026-06-05 · [A] Reads the draft as catastrophic-risk governance finally gaining traction after a laissez-faire Congress.
5. Unpacking the Great American Artificial Intelligence Act of 2026 — TechPolicy.Press, 2026-06-14 · [Both] The coalition map: BSA and ITI for, Public Citizen, Public Knowledge and the AFL-CIO against.
6. Bipartisan AI Bill Is Getting Preempted by Bipartisan Resistance — PYMNTS, 2026-07-07 · [B] Attacked from both sides — too far for Democrats, not far enough for industry; recalls the Senate's 99–1 rejection of the Cruz proposal.
7. Congress needs an AI framework now — Fortune, 2026-08-03 · [A] Argues preemption is the one divisive issue that could sink an otherwise needed framework.
8. When Should Congress Preempt State AI Law? The Lessons of Past Technologies — Carnegie Endowment, 2026-06-22 · [Both] Uses aviation and securities precedent; finds the "one extreme state sets national policy" fear largely theoretical so far.
9. 2026 State AI Laws: Legislative Wrap-Up — Epstein Becker Green, 2026-07-21 · [A] Fifty-framework compliance is the operating reality; health care and employment rules dominated state sessions.
10. Where State AI Legislation Stands Half Way Into 2026 — TechPolicy.Press, ~2026-07-21 · [Data] 109 AI and 28 data center laws by July 1, with states shifting toward child safety and data centers — the categories the December EO left alone.

2. Are data centers driving up Americans' electricity bills?

Division: USX · Form: Is/Are · Positions: A — yes, new load forces generation and transmission spending that lands on residential ratepayers; B — no, the causal studies find no rate effect and point to gas volatility, inflation, and grid modernization instead

1. Confronting and addressing rising energy bills linked to data centers — Brookings, 2026-03-13 · [A] The mechanism: a projected 49 GW generation shortfall through 2028 plus transmission and substation buildout.
2. Data center moratoriums are not a substitute for oversight — Brookings, ~2026-08-07 · [Both] Accepts the backlash as real but argues pauses only work if paired with transparency and data collection.
3. The Effect of Data Centers on Wholesale Electricity Markets — Dallas Fed working paper, 2026 · [A] Existing data centers raised wholesale prices 2–6% nationally; high-utilization buildout scenarios reach 50%.
4. Have Data Centers Raised Your Electric Bill? Causal Evidence from the United States — EPRI, 2026-06 · [B] Instrumental-variables estimate finds data centers modestly reduced average retail prices, because new demand spreads fixed costs.
5. Data centers lowered electricity inflation: landmark new study finds — Center of the American Experiment, 2026-07-10 · [B] Walks through the EPRI mechanism in plain terms — why average-cost pricing can fall as load rises.
6. Are Data Centers Driving Up Electricity Rates? — E3, 2026-05-18 · [B] Reviews ten studies; attributes about half of PJM's capacity price rise to load growth and half to market design and retirements.
7. Have Data Centers Actually Raised Electricity Prices? — Independent Institute, 2026-06-06 · [B] Cites IER finding states with the fastest sales growth had the smallest price increases from 2015 to 2025.
8. AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More — Consumer Reports, 2026-03-20 · [A] The other half of the bargain: as few as 23,000 US data center jobs, and research finding no clear local tech-employment boost.
9. New Texas data center projects frozen until state audits them — Texas Tribune, 2026-08-03 · [Background] Abbott halts approvals pending a grid-connection audit — the most consequential state action so far.
10. Rep. Josh Riley introduces bill to help utility bill costs amidst data center moratorium — WBNG, 2026-08-20 · [A] New York's moratorium is in force and residents say bills are rising anyway — the constituent-level version of the argument.