U.S. Senate blocks data center bill, four Democrats break ranks

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday blocked the bill that would have required data centers to pay the full cost of the energy they consume, in a vote that exposed the Democrats’ internal divisions just weeks before the midterm elections, as USA Today reports.

By 57 votes to 43, the Senate failed to clear the 60-vote threshold to advance the Ratepayer Protection Act, which had passed the House of Representatives on September 16 by an overwhelming 417-3. The bill would have required state energy regulators to consider rules for data centers to recover the “full incremental cost” of the energy they need to operate.

Most Democrats blocked the measure, considering it “toothless”. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats want to force data centers to financially bear their own energy upgrades themselves — by law, “not by suggestions, hope or whims”. “This weak bill couldn’t get any weaker,” he said.

However, four Democrats broke ranks and voted to advance it: Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire — including a member of the caucus leadership. Ossoff, who is in a tight race in Georgia, said the legislation was “worth debating”: “Thanks to Donald Trump, it costs more than ever in American history to power your home.”

The vote was one of the last before senators left Washington until November. Majority Leader John Thune accused Democrats of blocking the bill only to deny Republicans a political win: the bill was sponsored by Senator Jon Husted of Ohio, who is running a highly competitive race against former senator Sherrod Brown. The issue of data centers and rising energy prices is becoming ever more central to the campaign for the November 3 elections, according to Reuters, while polls show broad opposition to data centers despite Trump’s support for their development.