Senate blocks fast-track for AI data-center bill

The Senate blocked fast-track passage of the Ratepayer Protection Act, which targets data centers drawing more than 100 MW, after the House passed it 417–3. Sen. Jon Husted’s account says a Democrat objected to unanimous consent; House Energy and Commerce’s summary says the bill would make state utility commissions consider full incremental generation, transmission, and distribution costs rather than shift them to ratepayers. For builders, AI infrastructure’s financing-versus-delivery gap now includes policy timing: model state-specific grid exposure instead of treating federal cost allocation as law.