* White House urges single national AI framework over

state rules

* AI policy aims to protect children, help streamline

energy use

* Framework seeks to boost AI innovation, ensure global

dominance

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - The White House on

Friday unveiled an artificial intelligence policy for Congress

that urges lawmakers to enact legislation to pre-empt state

rules, protect children and shield communities from high energy

costs related to the burgeoning technology.

The Trump administration has been pushing for a single

legislative framework that can be applied uniformly across the

country, rather than leaving states to form their own plans.

U.S. President Donald Trump in December said he would

withhold federal broadband funding from states whose laws to

regulate artificial intelligence are judged by his

administration to be holding back American dominance in the

technology.

Republican House leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson and

leader Steve Scalise said the policy gives Congress a roadmap

for legislation "that provides innovators with much-needed

certainty, while protecting consumers and prioritizing kids'

online safety."

The AI industry has been a powerful profit driver for the

tech sector in recent years, propelling chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA ) to

become the world's largest company, while tech behemoths

Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Meta Platforms ( META ), Alphabet and Microsoft ( MSFT ) pour billions

of dollars into the sector.

The White House said it looked forward to working with

Congress to turn the framework into legislation.

"We need one national AI framework, not a 50-state

patchwork," Michael Kratsios, science and technology adviser to

Trump, told The Daily Signal. "And I think one of the key

provisions of it that will make it all work and come together is

really focusing on the bipartisan consensus around protecting

America's children."

Protections in the White House framework include giving

parents control of accounts and devices to protect their

children's privacy and suggests features to combat potential

sexual exploitation or self-harm.

The framework calls on Congress to streamline permitting so

that electricity-gobbling data centers can generate their own

power on site. It wants to increase the federal government's

ability to fight AI-generated scams and national security

concerns.

The plan calls for removing barriers to innovation,

accelerating AI deployment across business sectors and making it

easier to build top-grade AI systems, with a goal of ensuring

global AI dominance.

The framework includes provisions on intellectual property

rights, preventing censorship and protecting free speech and

developing an AI-proficient workforce by educating Americans.

The four-page document barely touches on issues of national

security, despite concerns from China hawks in Washington that

sales of advanced AI chips to China will help Washington's rival

supercharge its military.

The Trump administration gave the greenlight earlier this year

to China-bound exports of Nvidia's ( NVDA ) second most advanced AI chip

with conditions, and licenses to allow the shipments have been

issued.

White House AI czar David Sacks argues that shipping

advanced AI chips to China discourages Chinese competitors -

such as heavily sanctioned Huawei - from redoubling efforts to

catch up with Nvidia's ( NVDA ) and AMD's most advanced chip

designs.