AI Relies on Data Centers. Bernie Sanders and AOC Want To Freeze Their Construction.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I –Vt.) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D –N.Y.) have introduced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, a bill proposing a nationwide freeze on new AI data center construction and upgrades. The proposed moratorium would remain in effect until Congress passes comprehensive AI legislation addressing safety, job displacement, and local community approval. The bill also seeks to prevent increased electricity costs for consumers, environmental harm, and mandates wealth sharing from AI companies with the American public. The legislation has drawn sharp criticism from various figures, including Adam Thierer of the R Street Institute, who termed it a "declaration of war on computation in America" that could benefit China. Senators John Fetterman (D –Pa.) and Mark Warner (D –Va.) also expressed strong disapproval, calling the moratorium "China First" and "idiocy," respectively. Critics, such as Jennifer Huddleston from the Cato Institute, argue that data centers provide economic benefits to local communities through tax revenue and can drive electrical generation expansion, benefiting consumers. Opponents of the bill also contend that it undermines local communities' existing rights to determine infrastructure development through land use, zoning, and energy siting, citing examples like Prince George's County, Maryland, and Douglas and Clayton counties in Georgia, which have already imposed local restrictions or moratoriums. Despite the proponents' claims of over 100 local moratoriums, the bill is considered unlikely to pass due to limited bipartisan support and its contradiction with the White House's National AI Policy Framework.