Washington is confronting a new consequence of the artificial-intelligence boom: who should pay for the massive amounts of electricity required to power America’s expanding data-center industry?
The House has already made its position clear.
On September 16, lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, H.R. 9340, in a 417-3 vote. The legislation is designed to prevent ordinary households and small businesses from being saddled with infrastructure expenses created by exceptionally large electricity users, particularly massive data centers.
The legislation now faces a much more complicated path in the Senate. On September 17, Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, attempted to move the measure through the Senate by unanimous consent, but a Democratic senator objected, blocking immediate passage.
