Data center bill falls short in Senate as lawmakers take final votes before the midterms

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill that attempts to address voter worries about data centers and their impact on energy costs failed to advance in the Senate on Wednesday, falling victim to an election-year clash on how best to address a growing concern.

Before leaving Washington to campaign, Senate Republicans reserved one of the chamber’s final votes for a bill they hoped would underscore efforts to address the impact data centers have on voters’ monthly energy bills. The bill needed 60 votes to advance, but fell short, 57—43.

The bill is a modest one. It requires utility regulators to consider adopting a federal standard that charges large power customers a rate that covers the cost of the system upgrades needed to serve them. Democrats say it amounts to a suggestion and that more is needed. Republicans say the bill sends a message to regulators to act.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican from Ohio, is in a tough reelection battle and has been labeled in campaign ads as the “face of data centers” by his Democratic challenger, former Sen. Sherrod Brown.

“You all know this is the only game in town,” Husted told reporters in advocating for his bill. “This bill passing is the only way to get a chance to prove to the American people before the midterm elections whose side you’re on.”

Senate Democrats say the bill isn’t tough enough

The measure passed the House by a vote of 417-3. It needed support from at least seven Democratic senators to proceed to a final vote, but that didn’t happen given the criticism from within their ranks that it doesn’t go far enough and knowing that passage could give Husted’s reelection prospects a lift.

“The bill is a fraud, plain and simple,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Democrats have offered competing proposals. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M. sponsored legislation that would direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue rules for large electricity customers that requires them to pay for necessary grid upgrades.

“They want it optional, which means zero. We want it mandatory,” Schumer said.

Republicans are looking to position Democrats as obstructionists who are blocking progress on key voter concerns. Husted’s bill is one example. Another would be the bill from Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., that would bar members of Congress from purchasing individual stocks. The issue is a popular one with candidates running for office this election cycle, but also includes voter identification requirements that Democrats have called a poison pill.

Thune teed up both bills for procedural votes and both failed to meet the 60-vote threshold for advancing.

“Both pieces of legislation strike at the very heart of issues that the American people care deeply about, passionately about, and we’ll see if the Democrats are willing to take yes for an answer,” Thune said.

Data centers have become a top campaign issue

The House and Senate are both expected to be out of session for all of October. The House left in mid-September, canceling nearly two weeks of votes as Republicans were anxious to get on the campaign trail in a bid to keep their majority in the next Congress.

President Donald Trump has embraced the building of more data centers, but there is growing wariness from voters. About 6 in 10 Americans support limiting the number of new data centers that can be built, including most Democrats and Republicans.

And a majority of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the impact of data centers on electricity prices or the water supply in the communities where they are built.

In Ohio, a data center hot spot with closely contested races for governor and U.S. Senate, the National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in a recent memo that Husted is vulnerable to losing his seat because of the centers. Husted helped promote Ohio as a destination for data centers while serving as lieutenant governor.

The Ohio race is seen as vital to determining control of the Senate, helping explain why the data center bill has generated so much scrutiny and is so hotly contested despite the overwhelming vote it received in the House.

Speaking on the Senate floor before the vote, Husted said that the bill requires states to at least confront the issue of data centers paying their own way for their power and the grid improvements needed to serve them. He said the bill could hardly get broader support than it did in the House, but by blocking the bill in the Senate, Democrats would be showing they don’t care about the issue of affordability.

“Let’s hold data centers accountable and let’s stop blocking a path to affordability,” Husted said.