Ratepayer Protection Act
Mr. President, I rise today to speak about making life more affordable by lowering electricity prices through my bill, the Ratepayer Protection Act. Americans are increasingly realigned on the computing power of data centers in nearly…
Mr. President, I rise today to speak about making life more affordable by lowering electricity prices through my bill, the Ratepayer Protection Act.
Americans are increasingly realigned on the computing power of data centers in nearly every part of their daily lives--from medicine and manufacturing to agriculture, education, national defense, and the delivery of basic services.
As our reliance on this technology grows, so does the demand for data centers across the country. But more computing power requires more electricity, and when larger data centers come online, the cost of providing that power cannot be pushed onto everyone else. We have got to protect the American ratepayer, the American customer.
We have to make sure that the growth of these data centers does not mean higher electric bills for working families, for senior citizens, or for small businesses.
The companies driving this growth should be held responsible for the power they need to operate, not the American ratepayer. That is what we are talking about today: making the data centers accountable, not the American ratepayer.
We need to win the global race for artificial intelligence--I don't think that anyone is disputing that fact--and we should not do it, though, by forcing American families and businesses to subsidize Big Tech.
That is why I have introduced the Ratepayer Protection Act. My bill ensures that large data centers pay their fair share of electricity costs, infrastructure costs that they require, requiring them to own the responsibility for those costs, rather than shifting them to other ratepayers.
I have been focused on this issue for a long time, since my work in State government, where I pushed Big Tech companies to enter into fair agreements with communities where they were building.
In March, I went to the White House to watch the President sign the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. This summer, I took it a step further by introducing S. 5028, which we are talking about today, to turn that commitment into law.
We can support American innovation. America is an innovative country. We must remain an innovative country and lead the world in superintelligence and build the infrastructure we need for the future without asking families, seniors, and small businesses to pick up the tab.
So, today, we are considering the House-passed version of my bill before this Chamber. It passed the House 417 to 3. That is why we are here--to focus on this bill--because no other bill exists, other than this one, that can allow us to get this job done today.
The Ratepayer Protection Act outlines a standard for data centers to pay their own way for electricity and the grid and the infrastructure, and it requires State utility regulators to consider this standard to ensure that large-load customers pay the full incremental costs of the infrastructure needed to serve them--pay for it all. The States can't avoid this. They are going to have to confront the issue. Our bill will require them to do that.
Those standards could also require financial assurances so that families, communities, and small businesses are not left paying for stranded infrastructure costs from a project that they say they are going to build, but it gets delayed or abandoned.
A lot of times, they pass that cost along to everyone else. No, this legislation would help make sure that that doesn't happen.
Last week, I brought the Ratepayer Protection Act to this very Senate floor and asked for unanimous passage. Why? Because it passed the House 417 to 3. Why delay? Why not get this done immediately?
Well, I can't answer that. You will have to ask those who blocked it because it is ready to go. It could be law today if we just decide that we are going to look out for the American ratepayer, and we are going to take action to do so.
As I mentioned, it passed the House 417 to 3. That is almost unprecedented in this era of politics and governing here in Congress. That means that over 99 percent of the Representatives agreed my bill was worth passing. Let that sink in. Ninety-nine percent of the House of Representatives cast a vote in favor of the Ratepayer Protection Act becoming law.
Among those who voted yes on the Democratic side were Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and every single Member of the House Democratic leadership. They all supported the bill in the House.
This bill had unanimous support from House Republicans, from Speaker Johnson to the Freedom Caucus. All of them supported my bill.
You can't get any broader support than that, folks, in Washington, DC, in this day and age.
The Ratepayer Protection Act is such a no-brainer that the most conservative and the most liberal Representatives all agreed it was good policy. They all agreed. The House of Representatives passed it. It is here. It is ready to go. All we have to do is take yes for an answer, and we will begin today at lowering electricity rates for American ratepayers.
The American people have spoken loud and clear about this issue. They want the data centers to be held accountable. We have a chance to do that, to lower their electric rates. Let's take advantage of this wonderful opportunity we have to build bipartisan support around this bill.
It is clear that Big Tech should be paying their own way, not passing the cost onto local communities and States. This bill does that. It does that.
In a few moments, my colleagues and I will vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act. Together, we can send this bill to the President's desk for his signature today and prove to the American people we heard them; that we are doing something to actually help lower their prices--the prices that they pay for electricity.
The Ratepayer Protection Act represents the most meaningful bipartisan step Congress can take to protect the American people from paying higher prices for electricity. It demonstrates that in Washington, it is still possible to work in a bipartisan way to address the problems most pressing to the American people.
And I am proud to have led this effort in the Senate. Let's rise above the politics that often drag this place down and deliver for the American people and do our jobs.
But I want to be clear about something, this bill--this bill--is the only path that we can take today that will lower electricity prices. No other options remain. This is it. This is the bill that can get it done. It is ready to go.
All we have to do in this Chamber is say yes and it will be on the President's desk and we can prove to the American people we actually care about what they are asking us to do to lower their electricity prices. Any obstruction to that is to say no to them, that you don't want to do it.
I listened to the Democratic leader talk about this bill a few moments ago, and I implore him: Stop blocking this bill. Stop blocking this bill. Let it go. Give us a chance, on a bipartisan basis, to prove that we care about what the American people are asking us to do: lowering their prices; making life more affordable; in this case, lowering their electricity prices. Give the American people what they want: lower energy prices and holding data centers accountable.
I will conclude with this because I would like to get this done on a bipartisan basis, and I would like to be able for everybody in this Chamber to take credit for lowering electricity prices and holding data centers accountable. But if Democrats block this bill, they will prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they do not care about affordability and that they will not do anything to take action to help. That is what blocking this bill will prove to the American people.
Let's listen. Let's get this done. Let's lower electricity prices. Let's hold data centers accountable. And let's stop blocking a path to affordability.
I yield the floor.