Senate blocks bills on data centers and insider trading ahead of six-week recess
The U.S. Senate blocked the Republican-backed Ratepayer Protection Act, which would have encouraged state utility regulators to make large power users such as data centers pay for grid upgrades. The bill fell three votes short of the 60 needed to advance before lawmakers left for a six-week recess.
Senate Democrats blocked the Ratepayer Protection Act, a Republican-backed measure addressing the effect of data centers and other large electricity users on ratepayers. The proposal would have required state utility regulators to consider charging those users for grid upgrades needed to serve them, but it would not have required states to adopt the policy.
The bill failed by three votes, prompting competing arguments from Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., who called it an election-year messaging bill, and Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, who said Democrats were refusing to address affordability. The Senate also blocked a separate insider-trading bill before beginning a six-week recess.