By Nico Portuondo and Amelia Davidson | POLITICO
The vote gives House Republicans a bipartisan win on an issue that has become increasingly politically fraught ahead of the midterm elections.
House lawmakers on Wednesday easily passed the first major legislative action to address the costs of the AI boom, a bill intended to shield Americans from potential energy costs associated with data centers.
The Ratepayer Protection Act, which has become the House GOP’s signature legislation to address the costs of the data center build-out ahead of the midterm elections, was passed in a broad bipartisan vote of 417-3.
“Large load data centers must cover the full costs of any system updates they require, not families or small businesses. We cannot accelerate this growth on the back of Americans working hard to pay their electric bill at the end of the month,” said Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.), the main co-sponsor of the bill alongside Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.).
The passage marks the first major bill to advance through Congress addressing the costs of the data center boom, as concerns about the costs and safety of artificial intelligence reach a fever pitch among voters. It comes after weeks of internal debate among House Republicans over how best to respond to growing backlash against data centers and could set the stage for further congressional action on AI in the months ahead.
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