Washington — One Senate Democrat on Thursday scuttled a Republican-led effort to pass legislation aimed at shielding Americans from energy costs attributed to data centers, despite the bill securing widespread bipartisan support in the House a day earlier.
The measure, titled the Ratepayer Protection Act, seeks to force tech companies to pay for the costs of new energy infrastructure used for data centers, rather than passing costs on to consumers. It passed the House on Wednesday in a 417 to 3 vote.
GOP Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio on Thursday sought to approve the legislation under unanimous consent, which gives any single lawmaker the power to block its passage. But Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, opposed, arguing that 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,” Heinrich said. “But the Ratepayer Protection Act falls short of what we need to do to respond.”
Heinrich said, “Congress needs to pass real legislation with real teeth,” noting that he has introduced his own bill, titled the GRID Savings Act, aimed at preventing Americans from shouldering the electricity costs from data centers.
“My bill is what is needed to start to bring down energy prices,” Heinrich said. “We also need to do more to get data centers to actually engage with communities from the beginning to the end, and we need to conserve local resources, especially water. And we need to protect communities from air pollution by using clean energy and battery storage. But we’re not going to get there with the bill that the senator from Ohio has proposed.”
Heinrich then sought unanimous consent to pass his legislation. But GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno, Ohio’s other senator, objected, lambasting Heinrich for blocking the House-passed effort that he said would have given Americans “immediate relief.”
“The term do-nothing Congress exists for a reason,” Moreno said. “We absolutely accomplished that right now.”
The developments come as affordability issues have remained top of mind for voters as the midterm elections approach, along with new debates around data centers and AI. A number of House Republicans running in tight races signed on to the bill as cosponsors in recent weeks. And Husted, who is running in a competitive race in Ohio against former Sen. Sherrod Brown, has spearheaded the effort in the Senate.
Husted has faced scrutiny for his previous support for data centers, a key issue in the Ohio Senate race. His opponent has hammered him on the issue, and the Senate GOP campaign arm warned in a memo last month that more than anything else, the data center issue is the “anchor hanging around Husted’s neck.”
When he sought unanimous consent to pass the measure Thursday, Husted said it represents “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,” Husted said.
