Lizzie Fletcher

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, Democrats have argued for years that growing our power grid is crucial. A grid that is too small, too dumb, and too rigid only serves to make power unreliable and increase American families' power bills. A grid that is larger, smarter, and more flexible is what we need, especially if we hope to withstand a wave of data-center-driven demand for power.

While it is critical that we give grid operators new tools to build new power lines, the cheapest and quickest way to expand our grid is to get more of what we currently have. For decades, utilities have largely used the same conductors and power lines, but it doesn't have to be that way. New advanced conductors can often carry much more power through the same transmission line than traditional conductors.

H.R. 6633, the High-Capacity Grid Act would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, to issue a rule requiring utilities to use the best available class of transmission conductors.

I want to note two important things. First, the bill focuses on the best-available class of conductors, not a single technology. The goal here is not to favor a single company or a single technology, but to give FERC and the Department of Energy the flexibility to designate what constitutes the best-available class of conductors.

Second, the bill relies on FERC to maintain a balance, to ensure that utilities have the ability to use other conductors when they really need to, and to ensure that the exceptions do not become the rule.

This bill is only a small part of a much larger conversation we need to have about how to expand our power grid. Unfortunately, Republicans and the Trump administration have been reluctant to engage in serious conversations on what we can do to build a grid for the 21st century. I think that is a shame, and there should be more transmission bills on the floor along with this one today.

We should be considering Energy Subcommittee Ranking Member Castor's bill to speed up the process that generators use to connect to the power grid. This bill certainly won't solve the problem by itself, but it does represent an important first step.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, in closing, I just encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, one of the most frustrating aspects of the explosion of artificial intelligence-driven demand for electricity is that we actually have no idea how large it will be. We know the demand for power is soaring, but estimates vary all over the place.

One study from this February estimated that by the end of the decade, data centers would consume anywhere between 9 and 17 percent of all American electricity. Both of those numbers are enormous, but the gap between them is enormous, too.

We simply need to get smarter about our demand forecasts. This isn't an academic point. Demand projections for the future impact electricity prices today. Utilities across the Nation are investing in infrastructure and putting steel in the ground today based on the best available estimates of what demand for electricity will look like 3 to 5 years from now. If they are wrong because the estimates are too high, there is no refund. Families across the Nation will be stuck holding the bag. If they are wrong because the estimates are too low, then our grid gets less reliable, and the risk of blackouts increases. It is a lose-lose situation.

H.R. 9332, the Load Forecasting Enhancement Act, helps fix this problem by requiring the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, to create joint boards with State regulators to figure out best practices for predicting

electricity demand. The bill requires State regulators to push for their utilities to use those best practices.

It is a smart solution that gets every relevant party to the table. I commend my colleague, Representative Menendez, for co-leading this bill.

I will note that all of these efforts become more difficult if data centers continue issuing NDAs that prevent utilities from comparing notes to see if they are getting requests from the same data center.

We need guardrails on data center development to ensure transparency for communities and regulators. This bill doesn't entirely fix the problem, but it represents an important first step.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, once again, I believe that this is an important first step in addressing these issues, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.'' I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Like many of my colleagues and constituents, I am concerned about the impacts that data centers fuelling AI technologies are having on the affordability and reliability of our Nation's power grid, absent guardrails from Congress. Those concerns are only growing.

However, AI can also be deployed to help mitigate some of the stress on our grid by making it easier to model a complex grid to see where reliability issues may emerge in the future or by cutting down on the length of time that grid operators take to review a power plant's application to connect to the power grid.

H.R. 9339 is a straightforward, bipartisan bill. It requires the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to study how to use artificial intelligence and other computing tools to enhance grid reliability and to report those findings back to Congress.

Nothing in this bill means that I or my colleagues will pause our efforts to put commonsense guardrails on data centers to protect American families, but we want to make sure we can get the most out of these technologies at the same time to better protect our grid in an era where the risk of blackouts is rising.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Mullin).

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.