Senate Blocks Data-Center Utility Bill After Dispute Over Optional Protections

A federal proposal to keep data-center costs off household utility bills stalled in the Senate on September 30, 2026. Democrats blocked the Ratepayer Protection Act in a 57–43 vote, three votes short of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. The disagreement centered on how much protection states would actually have to provide.

A federal framework, a state decision

The bill targets a specific affordability concern: consumers paying higher utility prices when a new data center arrives in their community. Its proposed solution is a federal standard that state public utility commissions—the bodies overseeing utilities—would consider when deciding how developers should cover their costs.

CNBC described the mechanism as a framework states could adopt to require large AI data centers to pay their own energy infrastructure costs, rather than pass them to customers. NBC News also described instructions for utility commissions to find ways for developers to cover water and electricity costs. The proposal would work through state regulators, not impose an automatic nationwide payment requirement on developers.

It does not require any protections at all. While Americans are demanding real guardrails on AI and data centers, Republicans are offering a toothless messaging bill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, speaking to reporters on September 29

Democrats want requirements, not options

Schumer’s objection was that state participation would be optional, leaving the measure without meaningful required protections. He urged Republicans to take up bills from Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, which would go further in imposing cost-related rules on data centers.

The resistance preceded Wednesday’s vote. Heinrich had blocked an earlier attempt this month by Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, to secure quick passage through unanimous consent. CNBC reported that Heinrich raised similar concerns about the proposal then. Wednesday’s failed vote left that disagreement unresolved rather than settling which cost protections should become federal policy.

The House vote becomes the Republican rebuttal

Republicans pointed to a different measure of the bill’s value: the House had passed it 417–3 two weeks earlier. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., rejected the claim that the legislation was simply a political effort to help Husted, who leads the Senate version. Thune noted that nearly every House Democrat supported it.

Thune specifically cited support from Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hakeem Jeffries, arguing that House Democrats had considered the bill consequential. Husted, meanwhile, cast passage as an available bipartisan win. On Tuesday, he said Democrats could help deliver lower electricity prices by allowing the measure to reach the president’s desk.

Utility costs meet an Ohio election

For Husted, the debate has a direct electoral dimension. The appointed senator is seeking his first full term against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. Brown has branded him “the face of data centers,” criticizing his promotion of developments while serving as Ohio’s lieutenant governor.

An NBC News poll this month found a difficult backdrop for candidates backing local construction. By nearly six to one, voters said they would be less likely, rather than more likely, to support a candidate who favors building a data center in their community. Voters also trusted Democrats over Republicans on data centers by 12 points.

Even within the Republican ranks, support for the message did not mean confidence in the bill’s effects. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Husted was right to highlight data-center costs. Asked whether the bill would achieve much beyond that, he answered “No.” Tillis favored local and state decision-making through utility commissions, saying that was where the issue should be handled.