The administration's case for a federal standard rests on the premise that a national framework is coming — but Congress has declined to provide one. Without a federal law to point to, the argument that states should defer to Washington is a request for self-restraint on behalf of an outcome that has not materialized. The DOJ task force and Commerce Department evaluations generate institutional pressure, but pressure alone does not stop a state legislature that has already moved a bill. The DOJ litigation task force targeting state AI laws is…