The House passed sweeping legislation Wednesday requiring artificial intelligence data centers to bear the full cost of the energy infrastructure needed to power them, rather than passing those expenses to consumers.
The bill cleared the chamber by a vote of 417-3, reflecting rare and broad bipartisan agreement on an issue that has become politically charged ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The only opposition came from progressive Representatives Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Delia Ramirez of Illinois, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who argued the bill did not go far enough.
Because Republican leaders brought the legislation to the floor under a fast-track procedure known as suspension, it required support from two-thirds of voting members to advance.
The bill was introduced by Representatives Gabe Evans, a Republican from Colorado, and Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, and attracted a growing list of cosponsors from both parties in recent weeks.
Evans’ legislation would direct state utility regulators to consider a standard requiring that “large-load customers,” including large-scale data centers, be billed for the full cost of new electricity generation and transmission upgrades built to serve them.
Supporters characterized the measure as a “modest first start” in shielding ordinary families and businesses from higher utility bills driven by the surging power demands of AI infrastructure.
Tlaib, one of the three dissenting votes, said she opposed the bill because it “fails to meaningfully protect our communities,” signaling that some on the left view the legislation as insufficient.
A recent NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey found that nearly 70% of respondents oppose building AI data centers in their neighborhoods, with 45% saying they were strongly opposed.
The International Energy Agency estimated that electricity consumption by U.S. data centers could more than double from 2024 levels by the end of the decade, with some projections placing data center power demand above 10% of total U.S. consumption by 2030.
Beyond electricity costs, residents living near data centers have raised concerns about water usage required for cooling AI computing systems, as well as noise generated by the facilities.
Evans argued that the U.S. must build out its power systems to meet growing demand or risk becoming dependent on countries like China for its core digital infrastructure.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that he and President Trump would convene a meeting with AI executives at the White House the following week, signaling that the administration is engaging with the industry on energy and technology policy.
The bill preserves broad flexibility for state public utility commissions, which retain the authority to adopt or reject any federal standards when setting electricity rates for their jurisdictions.
The Senate has its own set of pending data center bills but has not moved on any of them, leaving the fate of the House-passed legislation uncertain as Congress heads into the campaign stretch.
