For Democrats, the centers’ high energy usage — exacerbating both electricity bills and climate change — makes some sort of restriction a no-brainer.
The increasing unpopularity of these facilities is raising the stakes to find a solution, as Democrats look to win on the issue of affordability in this year’s midterm elections.
Last month, Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.), the top Democrat on the powerful House Energy and Commerce committee, on data center construction, but party leaders are not embracing the idea.
Divisions among Democrats are also playing out at the state level, where at least two Democratic-controlled state legislatures have passed data center moratoria, but one was vetoed and the other still awaits the governor’s signature.
Support for data center moratoria does not fall neatly along ideological lines, as a handful of anti-establishment Republicans have also backed such efforts, while others in the GOP debate whether and how to regulate the server warehouses powering the AI boom.
In Congress, Democratic Party leaders have repeatedly said data centers need to pay their fair share of rising energy costs.
Earlier this year, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that Democrats will push for “strong, enforceable consumer protections.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has similarly “we’ve got to make sure we protect the American consumer” while also supporting innovation.
But neither party leader has appeared to back a specific proposal to achieve those ends.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
