Trump Is Talking With Senate's Thune About Bill to Cut Data-Center Electricity Costs
President Donald Trump is discussing a bill with Senate Majority Leader John Thune aimed at curbing electricity cost increases related to data center expansion. The House of Representatives passed a similar bill, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which would require state utility regulators to consider data centers bearing incremental infrastructure costs. However, a quick passage attempt in the Senate was blocked by Senator Martin Heinrich, who felt the bill did not go far enough.
President Donald Trump announced discussions with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) regarding a proposed bill to mitigate household electricity cost increases linked to the expanding data center industry. Trump, who views data centers as crucial for U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence and the "oil of the next 20, 25 years," is keen to address growing constituent concerns over energy prices.
Earlier in the week, the Republican-majority House of Representatives passed the Ratepayer Protection Act by a significant margin (417-3). This bill mandates state utility regulators to assess whether large electricity consumers, including data centers, should be responsible for the additional power infrastructure costs built to serve them. However, a subsequent attempt by Senate Republicans to swiftly pass the bill failed on Thursday after Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM), a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, blocked the unanimous consent request. Heinrich argued the bill's reliance on voluntary state and developer commitments was insufficient. A recent University of Massachusetts Amherst poll indicated low public support, with only 11% of Americans favoring the construction of an AI data center in their community.