U.S. Senate Rejects Bill Addressing Data Center Costs for Utility Ratepayers
News Clip1:20PEP Radio·Washington, District of Columbia County, DC·9/30/2026
The U.S. Senate voted 57-43 against advancing the Ratepayer Protection Act, which would have encouraged states to consider preventing utilities from passing data center-related infrastructure costs on to ratepayers. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio and was characterized by opponents as symbolic because it would not have imposed binding requirements.
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Gov: U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress
Democrats block toothless data center bill
From the PEP Radio Newsroom, we have this news from Capitol Hill:
Most Senate Democrats voted against advancing symbolic legislation suggesting utilities avoid passing data center costs on to ratepayers.
The Ratepayer Protection Act would not actually do anything, but it tells states to “consider” disallowing utilities from increasing costs to accommodate the energy needs of data centers.
The bill was widely viewed as an attempt to help Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), the bill’s main sponsor, in his tight race against former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio.).
The bill failed by a vote of 57 to 43 with four Democrats in favor: Sens. Raphael Warnock (Ga.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.).
“It’s a nothing act. It really doesn’t require any effort to stop or even slow down the data centers,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told HuffPost. “This is being designed by one Republican senator who has a tough time for reelection. There are much better bills.”
That’s what we know for now. For PEP Radio News, I’m David Moore.
Posted: September 30, 2026, at 3:15 PM EDT
HuffPost link: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/live-updates_n_6aba2581e4b07795582cf7c8/liveblog_6abd48aae4b02a789b323f69