Republicans struggle for footing on data center response ahead of midterms
Vulnerable House Republicans are eager for Congress to take action, but leadership is not yet ready to charge ahead.
House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie has been pushing a data center bill that he said aligns with President Donald Trump.Francis Chung/POLITICO
Vulnerable House Republicans returned to Washington this week pushing for action before the midterms on reining in data centers, only to find their leadership still undecided on the volatile issue.
Further complicating the debate: President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post Monday saying that the only reason Americans might not want data centers built in their communities is if they “want to end up being backwards and poor.”
The desire for action on data centers, which had already divided the House GOP conference, came up in multiple member discussions early this week — including a conversation that House Speaker Mike Johnson hosted Monday with freshman lawmakers, Republicans told POLITICO.
The desire for action on data centers, which had already divided the House GOP conference, came up in multiple member discussions early this week — including a conversation that House Speaker Mike Johnson hosted Monday with freshman lawmakers, Republicans told POLITICO.
“My communities know what they want to live next to and what they want to co-inhabit with,” Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.), who is running for re-election in a competitive Pennsylvania district, said in response to the Trump data center decree. “And that’s why it’s so important that Congress [acts.]”
The need to act “was a big topic of conversation in the freshman meeting yesterday,” he said of the Johnson meeting. “I know a few of us have similar, different pieces of legislation, but there’s certainly a willingness, from my perspective, that this is something that we can’t run from, and our communities are begging us for help.”
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told POLITICO he’s hoping his legislation meant to curb the impact data centers have on the electrical grid can bridge the divide between parts of the GOP — including Trump — who have doubled down on data centers, and party vulnerables who want to respond to constituent backlash against the AI infrastructure.
He’s pushing Johnson to schedule a vote on the bill, approved by his committee earlier this year, in the coming month. Guthrie believes the so-called Ratepayer Protection Act and another bill on data center water use align with Trump’s recent data center support while still providing relief for the communities where they’re built. “Our model is the Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” Guthrie said, referring to a White House compact released earlier this year to ensure tech companies pay for the energy costs associated with data centers.
But Johnson told POLITICO that leaders are “looking at” the legislation and “trying to figure out when and how we can process that, but on the data center issue we’ve been very insistent that community responses need to be respected.”
Guthrie is seeking floor time for a vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act in the coming month. The bill, originally from Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.) and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), would require states to consider adopting a federal standard to ensure data centers cover the costs of the grid upgrades needed to serve them.