Control the spread of data centers? Put restrictions on how much consumers could pay for their additional electric use? Mandate safeguards on the technology?
The message in Washington this week is clear: No federal laws are being enacted anytime soon to do any of those things. It’s up to the states to act.
The Senate on Wednesday was unable to advance legislation that would at least send a strong signal to state regulators that consumers should not have to bear the costs of the additional electricity needed for data centers.
The 57-43 vote was three shy of the tally needed to cut off unlimited debate. Since the Senate is expected to leave shortly and not return until after the Nov. 3 election, and the House is gone until then as well, data-center policy will remain in limbo.
Four Democrats joined all 53 Republicans Wednesday in trying to keep the bill moving forward. GOP senators hailed it as an important step to protect consumers, but most Democrats were adamant that it does nothing concrete—the bill doesn’t force states to adopt any measures.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, dismissed the measure as a political gambit.
“This is nothing more than a messaging bill on the eve of an election,” the New Mexico Democrat said in a floor speech.
Republicans blamed Democrats for blocking progress on the issue.
Democrats “can join Republicans in helping to lower costs for American families, or they can explain to American families why their party continues to stand in the way of relief,” Majority Whip John Barrasso said.
Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats in November to win control of the chamber. One of the closest races is in Ohio, where Republican Sen. Jon Husted, the chief sponsor of the Ratepayer Protection Act, is battling former Sen. Sherrod Brown.
What AI officials say
Odds of stronger federal AI legislation that Democrats will accept are long. When Congress returns in November, it will still be run by Republicans, and if Democrats take over one or both chambers in January, President Trump will still wield the veto pen. Trump has said the AI industry does not need more government regulation.
Tuesday, he hosted a meeting of top AI executives at the White House. They emerged with a voluntary agreement to implement rigid internal controls on the technology. Trump said their willingness showed “tremendous self-policing.”
Democrats called the agreement little more than political theater. “The only thing that came out of Trump’s big summit yesterday was a photo op,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday. “Relying on self-regulation is how we got into this mess.”
The industry has been trying to reassure consumers and lawmakers it does not intend to boost electric rates for AI’s needs.
Data Center Coalition members “have been consistent in our commitment to paying the full cost of the energy and infrastructure attributable to their development and to ensuring that those costs are not passed on to residential ratepayers,” said Michele Nellenbach, the group’s vice president of federal affairs.
The Ratepayer Protection Act was passed in the House by a 417 to 3 vote on Sept. 16.
At the time, House Energy and Commerce Committee leadership described the bill this way: “This light touch approach provides a federal recommendation while preserving state power to regulate electricity markets, drawing on what 24 states are already doing to protect residential homes and small businesses.”
The committee said the bill “would protect consumers from rate increases resulting from data center construction by having state utility commissions consider large-load standards for data centers.” That step “would ensure they pay for the full incremental costs to serve their loads.”
Senate Democrats argued that the measure's "light touch" was inadequate.
“When I open my electricity bill, and read to see how much I owe for the month, it doesn’t say I ‘may’ pay that amount. It doesn’t say I ‘should’ pay that amount. It’s not optional,” Heinrich said. “The same needs to be true for AI data centers.”
Impact on consumers
The future of data centers, and consumer costs, remain murky. AI-related controversies have proliferated in recent weeks, and lawmakers are trying to figure out what if anything to do.
This much is clear: So far, electricity prices have increased roughly the same as the overall rate of inflation in the 12 months ending in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As AI expands, its expected electricity needs will grow. The Energy Department-sponsored Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said in a study last year that in 2023, data centers used roughly 4.4 percent of total U.S. electricity.
The study forecast that number could double or triple by 2028 to meet the needs for more data, particularly from AI.
Republicans insisted Wednesday that data centers’ futures are not primarily the responsibility of the federal government.
“I think it’s positive that we have something we’re working on," Sen. Rick Scott said. "The bottom line is we‘ve got to give all the power to the local government to make decisions.”
Will that be enough to satisfy increasingly worried constituents, Scott was asked.
“I know that it’s important to a lot of people in my state. People believe in what I'm working on,” he said.
