The House Passed a Bill To Curb The Cost Of AI Data Centers. A Senator Is Saying It Doesn't Go Far Enough.

Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich blocked the Ratepayer Protection Act in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources after Republican sponsor Sen. Jon Husted sought unanimous consent to pass it without a roll call, all but assuring the measure will not pass before the November midterm elections, CNBC reported. The House passed the bill this week 417-3; it would require state utility regulators to consider rules making data center builders cover some costs of new power generation and require electric utilities to obtain financial assurances from large-load customers before grid upgrades. Heinrich said the bill does not go far enough: "Rather than voluntary pledges or suggestions to states, Congress needs to pass real legislation with real teeth.

The House Passed a Bill To Curb The Cost Of AI Data Centers. A Senator Is Saying It Doesn’t Go Far Enough. Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich blocked the proposal after its sponsor sought unanimous consent to quickly vote it without a roll call. A bill seeking to have tech companies face costs associated with the building of data centers is stalled in the Senate https://www.ibtimes.com/topic/congress after Republicans sought to pass it quickly. Republican Sen. Jon Husted, sponsor of the Ratepayer Protection Act, requested unanimous consent for the bill in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to vote it without a roll call. However, Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the committee, blocked the proposal, saying it doesn't go far enough. The decision, CNBC noted https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/17/ai-data-center-utility-cost-senate.html , all but assures that the measure won't pass before the November midterm elections. "It's not enough to tell states to consider making data centers pay for grid updates," Heinrich said. "Rather than voluntary pledges or suggestions to states, Congress needs to pass real legislation with real teeth." The House passed the bill this week, seeking to shield consumers from some costs associated with the proliferation of data center across the country. The Ratepayer Protection Act https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/9340/text got 417 votes in favor and only 3 against. It requires state utility regulators to consider rules so that those building data centers cover some of the costs of new power generation. It also determines that, before any upgrade to the grid is made, "an electric utility shall require the large-load customer provide to the electric utility financial assurances or contributions to cover the cost of such upgrade." Most polls have shown that data centers are not being well received by communities in which they are set up. A June survey conducted by CBS News/YouGov https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-data-centers-in-their-area-opinion-poll/ found that 50 percent of respondents said they did not want to live near a data center. Only 20 percent said they would favor living near one, and the remaining 30 percent of respondents were unsure. Most said they were worried about the potential impact on local resources such as water and electricity, with 63 percent of respondents saying the impact would be mostly bad. There were also concerns about the environment generally, with 60 percent worried that data centers were mostly harmful. Respondents also said that they lacked information about data centers. Only 16 percent said they knew a lot about them, with 57 percent saying they knew a little and 27 percent saying they new nothing. © Copyright IBTimes 2026. All rights reserved.