Exclusive / Some Republicans push to prioritize Husted data center bill - Semafor

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wants the Senate to stay in session until the body votes on his endangered colleague’s signature bill.

Moreno told Semafor he believes the Senate should stay in until there’s a roll call vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act, data center-focused energy legislation from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., blocked the bill last week.

“Absolutely, 100%, they all hide behind Martin now, like it’s one Democrat. We need to put them on the record,” Moreno said.

Republican senators have discussed the idea but made no final decision.

“I have heard a lot of support from my colleagues about getting it done,” Husted told Semafor. “I hope we give [Democrats] another chance to get it right.”

The Senate is scheduled to be in next week, but may cut the session short so lawmakers can hit the campaign trail.

It’s crunch time for the Senate schedule, and some Republicans would prefer the Senate break for the midterms and allow Republicans locked in difficult reelection battles to campaign. But for Husted, getting his bill done might be just as valuable as a week of campaigning. Rising public opposition to data centers, driven in part by their costs, has put pressure on lawmakers in Washington to come up with a solution.

“Voters overwhelmingly support the idea of data centers paying their own way, so that they don’t run the risk of having to pay higher electricity prices as a result,” Husted said. “It could be the law of the land, and it could prove to Americans that we heard them, that we did something about it.”

Heinrich blocked Husted’s bill and instead offered his own GRID Savings Act, which would require data centers to pay for power grid connections rather than making it voluntary. Other Democrats have criticized Husted’s bill as lacking teeth: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the measure, which passed the House overwhelmingly, a “fraud.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged a “significant level of interest” in passing the bill. As he left the Capitol on Wednesday evening, his guidance for the Senate schedule was simply: “Don’t make any plans yet.”