Democrats appear to be ready and willing to pull out all the stops to prevent Republicans from notching even a single win ahead of the November midterm elections — even if that means pulling the plug on bills that previously enjoyed bipartisan support.
One such bill is the Ratepayer Protection Act — which passed the House by overwhelming margins (417-3) with majority support from both major parties only to stall in the Senate on Wednesday. Sponsored in the House by Reps. Gabe Evans (R-CO)) and Kathy Castor (D-FL), it had the support of a few Senate Democrats — Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) — but not enough to overcome the filibuster. Democrats blocked the measure in a procedural vote, 57-43.
The bill, designed to address concerns about new data center construction, would require states to consider adopting standards that would force the tech companies building those data centers to shoulder the utility costs connected to their operation. Democrats who voted against the bill argued it is “toothless” because it does not require states to adopt those standards.
“Americans are demanding real guardrails on AI and data cen...