See more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on Google WASHINGTON — A lone Senate Democrat blocked a bipartisan bill Thursday meant to make big tech companies pay for new infrastructure that will power massive AI data centers.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) objected to Sen. Jon Husted’s (R-Ohio) effort to fast-track the Ratepayer Protection Act just one day after the House overwhelmingly approved the measure, 417-3.
The bill would order states to consider standards aimed at preventing large electricity users from shifting the costs of building up grids onto everyday utility customers.
Heinrich argued the measure doesn’t go far enough.
“The senator from Ohio and I agree on one thing, AI data centers can mean higher costs for American families, and in a lot of places they already do,” the Democrat said. “But the Ratepayer Protection Act falls short of what we need to do to respond.”
Heinrich instead sought unanimous consent for his own GRID Savings Act, which would require large electricity users — such as data centers — to pay for facilities needed to connect them to the grid. His measure also calls for federal standards governing large-load interconnections.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) then objected to Heinrich’s bill, leaving both measures in limbo while the Republican accused Heinrich of preventing Americans from receiving “immediate relief.”
“The term do-nothing Congress exists for a reason,” Moreno said. “We absolutely accomplished that right now.”
The clash came as lawmakers grapple with AI and data centers emerging as a political flashpoint ahead of the November midterm elections.
Husted, who is facing a tough re-election race against Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown, has repeatedly faced criticism over his record on data centers, with the National Republican Senatorial Committee describing the issue in an Aug. 19 memo as “the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck.”
“If voters’ perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio,” read the memo, first reported by Politico.
“While the perceptions of data centers are weak, the American people are with us,” the NRSC concluded. “By overwhelming margins, the American people prefer a Republican candidate who wants to only let data centers be built in communities that approve them by a local vote of the people, and that pay for their own power, water, and other utilities versus a Democrat candidate who wants to stop data center construction altogether, which will cause America to lose the AI race to China.”
Husted defended the blocked bill Thursday, calling it “the most meaningful, bipartisan step Congress could take to protect the American people from higher prices for electricity.”
“It is a shame that this opportunity has been missed today,” he added.
The Senate is scheduled to be in session for the remainder of this month before lawmakers go on recess until after the midterm elections.