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It’s not every day you have an issue that gets bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. But the uncertainty around AI data centers is heating up in Congress, and lawmakers are eyeing ways to rein them in.
There are at least five bills currently making their way through Congress that specifically deal with data centers, and several others dealing with AI and electricity demand. None have made it very far (yet) — but the interest is clearly there.
And the bills range from a number of issues, each attacking the issue from a different angle. So I thought I would take this newsletter edition to dive into some of these proposals, what they would do, and the likelihood of them actually becoming law.
The bill that has made it the farthest so far: The Ratepayer Protection Act, which was just approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a unanimous vote.
What it would do: Require states to consider adopting strategies that make data centers pay for the costs of new generation and transmission upgrades rather than making U.S. consumers pay for it.
The committee advanced the bill along bipartisan lines, making it more likely it can actually go somewhere in the House. A vote hasn’t been scheduled, and the House is gone until Aug. 31 — but it could be the next affordability proposal the two parties prioritize ahead of the midterms.
Another data center bill was introduced just this week by Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds that would also focus on ensuring taxpayers aren’t the ones footing the bill. That bill would require data centers to get all their electricity and water needs from private companies rather than from the power grid or public water system.
One bill that got a committee hearing earlier this year was the Protecting Families from AI Data Center Energy Costs Act, which was part of a broader package dealing with the power grid in general. This one was introduced by Ohio Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman, who has introduced three data-center-centered bills so far this year.
What it would do: Require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to hold a technical conference on how data centers affect electricity rates. The commission would then have to submit a report to Congress with recommendations on how to protect consumers from paying for the costs.
Landsman has also led action on the No Harm Data Centers Act that would further require studies on the environmental impacts of large data centers. That bill would similarly require centers to bear the costs of centers associated with their power demand and it would ban any nondisclosure agreements between developers and lawmakers.
Some lawmakers want to go even further. I’ve reported before on the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That bill wants a federal suspension of data center construction until national protections are put in place.
That one hasn’t gained much traction, but it does reflect the wide-ranging opinions on AI data centers. Some simply want to know more while some progressives want to bring construction to a stop until they can have more oversight.
Even if we don’t have a solidified path forward yet, one thing is clear: Lawmakers know they can’t put the genie back in the bottle when it comes to these data centers. So instead of ignoring the issue, they’re going to have to get Congress involved somehow.
Stories Driving the Week
: The House voted 232-198 mostly along party lines to approve the Stop Insider Trading Act, which seeks toBlock the stocksprohibit members of Congress and their family members from purchasing publicly traded stocks. It’s unclear if it will go anywhere in the Senate.Utah Sen. John CurtisHappy Pioneer Day:led a tribute honoring Pioneer Dayand the first members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who arrived in Utah 179 years ago.Since the war began in late February, the debate over who has jurisdiction over authorizing military action has plagued the halls of Congress. While the legislative body holds the sole power to declare war under the Constitution, that authority has been hotly contested for decades on how it coincides with the president’s role as commander in chief.Iran war:My deep dive.
How Blake Moore wants to crack down on Medicare, Medicaid fraud
Utah Rep. Blake Moore is leading a new bill designed to crack down on fraud in Medicare and Medicaid programs — and it’s projected to save the U.S. $168 billion over the next decade.
The Anti-Fraud Fund Act of 2026 would invest $28 billion in the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control (HCFAC) Program to help boost personnel and resources for the federal government to identify fraud. Specifically, the money would go toward hiring attorneys and agents as well as updating technology for the Department of Health and Human Services to go after and prevent waste.
I caught up with Moore this week to talk more about the bill, which he says already has the Congressional Budget Office excited about the potential savings.
He started with giving a basic example of the kind of work this investment would accomplish. He pointed to a recent investigation in Los Angeles that identified several examples of hospice fraud.
“They’re sending a letter to each new person that has been starting to bill for hospice,” Moore explained. “They are sending a mass letter campaign out to these individuals that are presumably on hospice, and 15% of that work has folks responding and saying, ‘I am not on hospice.’”
He went on: “That’s a massive amount of return that we’re not having to spend. We’re able to cancel those particular expenditures or investigate further. … That’s why we can spend $1 and save $10.”
Here are excerpts from our conversation, edited for length and clarity:
Cami Mondeaux: What exactly would this bill do?
Blake Moore: Can I start out with a simple example? I would love to put some specific context around this because I think Utahns and the American people at large have heard about fraud for so long they’re fatigued at this point.
But there’s real significant work being done at the agency level, and it needs to be very simple for people to understand.
We are talking about providing some resources to the Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Control Program, the HCFAC. It’s been in existence since 1996. We’re talking about giving extra resources, so that will cost some money to enable them to save us significantly more money than that.
…
That’s the whole crux of the Anti-Fraud Fund Act, is to enable this agency to really go after and identify and reduce fraud. And we’re not doing it in a vacuum because they’ve already been doing it.
The Biden administration was not focused on this. The Trump administration has been heavily focused on this. We will save seven bucks for every dollar that we spend. And the letter example is perfect.
CM: This waste, fraud and abuse conversation has been a big focus for Republicans. We saw it in the Big, Beautiful Bill. If someone were to ask you why we need this investment, what does this bill do that we haven’t done already — what would you tell them?
BM: The structure already exists, but they’re light on resources. There’s only a few agents that are focused on some of these initiatives to go out and identify this. It’s three areas mainly where we would put these resources.
One is more boots on the ground, so agents associated with these agencies, not in Washington, D.C., but out in the country where they can be more responsive to this type of stuff. … You will need to hire more attorneys in this case, but most importantly, it’s the technology.
The reason why I think you’ve seen so much success from the Trump administration is they’re really embracing the concept of data scientists.
So we need the personnel and the data and the technology to be able to go and sort of interject before it gets that bad again.”
CM: Realistically, how do you see this bill passing? You’ll need Democrats in the Senate who have been more hesitant to touch Medicare and Medicaid after the cuts last summer; you have Republican fiscal hawks who are nervous to approve a big investment if they don’t have an immediate reward.
BM: Right, I’m wary of that as well. I’ve seen other proposals like this that I didn’t support. And so I get that.
I think there’s quite a bit of excitement for CBO to give us a 1:7 (spending to savings) ratio. It shocked a few people because the CBO typically doesn’t have much of a forward-thinking mentality on this to some degree, and there’s an excitement among the Republican conference that, ‘Hey CBO sees the light.’
All the right things are coming into play for all versions of the House Republican Conference right now — from from a Democrat-leaning district to a fiscal hawk, of which I count myself within, and to just always the naysayers. We’ve got a coalition, and there’s opportunity for this to be reconciliation.
This could be a big pay-for in a reconciliation bill. It won’t be for this upcoming one, but it could be before the end of the year.
I think the only reason Democrats feel like they can’t get on board with this fraud stuff is because DOGE was pretty politicized. But a lot (of fraud) has been found within blue states, and so there’s this apprehension that they’re going to admit that many Democrat-run states are worse at this.
But at some point you’ll get some brave Democrats to say, ‘OK, let’s not politicize this. … Let’s make this about actual substance.’ And I believe there’s going to be an environment that something like this could pass.
Quick Hits
From the Hill: Utah congressman pays tribute to 3 firefighters killed in Western wildfire. … A bipartisan group thinks it has a fix for gerrymandering. … Mike Lee renews push for election bill after Supreme Court upholds late-arriving mail ballots.
From the White House: Why Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission wants to rethink ‘separation of church and state.’ … Poll: Trump’s job approval still underwater in Utah as voters are split on success of Iran war. … How Trump made an estimated $2.2 billion since returning to office.
From the courts: Supreme Court erases limits on political party campaign spending with candidates. … Supreme Court says children born in the U.S. are citizens. … Supreme Court upholds state bans on transgender athletes in girls sports.
What’s next
The House is on recess until Aug. 31. The Senate is in session for the next two weeks, and will return on Monday.