WASHINGTON — Higher electric rates? Massive data centers looming over neighborhoods? Ugly political fights over what to do about them?

The future of data centers and their huge appetite for electricity is quickly escalating as a political flashpoint from coast to coast, moving from cities and states now to the nation’s capital. 

Bills are under debate in Congress. The Trump administration has weighed in. Lobbying is intensifying. The Environmental  Protection Agency is proposing changes.

But finding consensus on how to proceed in D.C. is tough, with the industry spreading around millions to make its case, some lawmakers pushing a moratorium, and others looking for ways to ease the burden on Americans without halting development. 

At the grassroots, intense opposition continues breaking out. In early May, community members screamed and booed when commissioners in Box Elder County, Utah, unanimously approved two resolutions in support of a 40,000-acre data center campus proposed for an unincorporated site in the county. 

Asked if he sees any momentum in Congress to do anything significant about the potential spread of data centers, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said in an interview, “Only with voters.” 

Hawley and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., are pushing a plan to assure consumers they will pay no increases in utility rates because of data centers.

Getting Congress to act is more complicated. “Some communities may have too many, but some would like the opportunity to have one of these data centers that pay a lot of local taxes,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who represents a state embroiled in its own fight over the issue, said in an interview.

There is general agreement that the issues need exploring, and fast.

“Demand for reliable energy is rising faster than at any point in history. Clearly, we will need more generation and transmission, and a great deal more of it,” said House Energy Subcommittee Chairman Robert Latta, R-Ohio, at a May 13 hearing. 

The Data Center Coalition, the industry’s membership association, says it’s eager to work with lawmakers and consumers.

“Data centers power modern life—from telehealth and digital classrooms to banking, air travel, financial transactions, and online shopping. With the average household using more than 20 connected devices, this infrastructure is not optional; it is foundational,” said Cy McNeill, coalition senior director of federal affairs.

“The data center industry is committed to being a good neighbor in communities where it operates, which includes the responsible use of key resources like water and energy,” he said

What are data centers?

Data centers in 2023 used about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity,  according to a report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

It predicted that percentage could double or triple by 2028 to meet the needs of growing amounts of data, notably artificial intelligence.

A data center is “a physical facility that houses and runs large computer systems,” said a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

As AI needs grow, CRS said, so have hyperscale data centers. These tend to contain at least 5,000 computer servers and at least 10,000 square feet of space, roughly four to five times the size of a standard single family home. 

All this can impact consumers. A ratepayer’s bill is generally determined by how much it costs to generate electricity and to deliver it. Rates are generally set by state or local regulators.

CRS found in its May 12 report that in most areas of the country, “little evidence existed that data center demand was affecting electricity rates nationwide.”

Can data center development be stopped?

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are sponsoring moratorium legislation.

Their plan would bar new AI data centers until “strong national safeguards are in place” that ensure AI is safe and effective and the economic benefits of AI and robotics will benefit workers.

The government would also have to guarantee that AI does not increase electricity or utility prices or harm the environment.

That idea has gained little traction. A moratorium “would be suicidal for the country,” said Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., a House Energy Subcommittee member.

Kaine explained the concern: ”The idea of a moratorium basically would be saying to all our competitors in the world we have an edge on this now but we’re going to let you catch up and race ahead of us.”

One area where he thought lawmakers could find common ground involved permitting reform. Data centers now can need different permits, depending on their location, function and other factors.

Tackling permit reform could be complex, as most of the process falls to states. As CRS wrote, “Data centers require permits for various aspects of their construction — such as roads, buildings, telecommunications, and utilities “

That can include permits for connections to the local electric grid, any on-site electricity generation, and backup electricity facilities, CRS said, as well as connections to the local natural gas pipeline system.

The Environmental Protection Agency on May 11 took one step, proposing making it easier for data centers and other projects to start construction even though they haven’t yet received federal clean air permits.

“The change will support the development of Artificial Intelligence infrastructure and power generation” an EPA statement said.

It called the proposal “a significant step forward in the Trump EPA’s efforts to provide affordable baseload power for American families and to advance the data centers essential to making the U.S. the AI capital of the world.” 

In addition, the White House in March announced a “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” aimed at companies involved with centers. Major tech companies agreed to its points.

It says that “Companies will build, bring, or buy the new generation resources and electricity needed to satisfy their new energy demands, paying the full cost of those resources whether by building, or buying from, new or otherwise additive power plants.”

Where possible, these companies will also add more capacity that serves the broader public by increasing supply. 

Congress wants more guardrails

Saying “a handshake and a promise from these tech companies is not enough”  Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, last month introduced legislation to guarantee data centers “pay the full cost of their energy demands and infrastructure needs (and) studies the environmental impacts of data centers.”

Other legislative initiatives include:

–The Energy Bills Relief Act. With 148 Democratic sponsors, led by Reps. Mike Levin, D-Calif., and Sean Casten, D-Ill., it would ensure that “facilities like data centers are paying for their own costs because it’s not fair for their expenses to be pushed onto your household if one opens in your area.”

–The Guaranteeing Rate Insulation from Data Centers (GRID Act).  The Hawley-Blumenthal plan would guarantee no increase in consumer utility prices due to data centers, and make sure that new data centers “use energy from power generation sources that are separate from the grid.”

–The Power for the People Act, which has Democratic support in the House and Senate. It would direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to make sure data centers pay for local transmission upgrades they need.

The bill “balances the need for data center development without pushing those costs onto consumers,” said Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., its chief House sponsor.

–The Fair Allocation of Interstate Rates Act.  Sponsored by Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., It would “prevent households from being forced to subsidize transmission projects built to satisfy another state’s green energy goals.” 

Currently, regional transmission groups spread costs of big interstate lines to consumers throughout the region.

Latta, the subcommittee chairman, called it “a practical solution to place the burden of renewable portfolio standard costs on the states that choose to adopt those requirements.”

What’s standing in the way?

Politics and, as Hawley put it, “M-o-n–e-y.”

OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan organization that tracks money in politics, found “The electric manufacturing and equipment sector, including firms like Microsoft and Oracle, has poured more than $226 million into lobbying activity in 2025.”

That spending is aimed in part at backing what OpenSecrets called “the rapid growth of data centers and to address the resulting strain on the nation’s power grid.”

The Data Center Coalition’s McNeill said the industry “is committed to working with communities, local officials, and state and federal leaders to ensure the continued responsible development of this critical industry while protecting families and businesses.”

The Data Center Coalition, he said, “will continue to provide education on the data center industry and look forward to continued engagement with the administration, Congress, and other key stakeholders.”

Also, the data center issue has become bound with other incendiary matters. 

Discussing the moratorium idea, Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, said in an interview, “Of course they (Democrats) are pushing for that. They’re anti-building, they’re anti-American, they’re anti-everything. They’d rather see Iranian oil be sold in the United States.”

Democrats charge that Republicans are resisting meaningful regulation.

At one of the House hearings, Rep. Jenn McClellan, D-Va., tied the problems to the war in Iran.

“Not until the Trump administration carelessly ensnared the United States in a reckless and costly war of choice with Iran pushing energy prices up even higher,” she said, “that we focused a hearing specifically addressing the alarming impact that data centers could have on energy affordability going forward.”

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Most Americans support banning members of Congress and their families from trading stocks in individual companies.

So says a 2023 University of Maryland study that surveyed about 3,000 registered voters.

Lawmakers in Washington are privy to information the general public may not be and can use it to make advantageous stock trades.

And “the problem is getting worse,” said Kedric Payne, director of the ethics program for the Campaign Legal Center, a government watchdog in Washington. His team focuses on enforcing existing ethics laws and advocating for tougher ones.

Payne believes the public should know “their elected officials are protecting the public interest and not their own personal interest.”

The STOCK Act, a federal law passed in 2012, requires members of Congress to disclose their trades within about 30 days of the purchase or sale. But the penalty for filing a disclosure report late is a meager $200.

Payne said his organization used to file ethics complaints for congressional stock trading. It’s rare that they file those complaints now since the most common violation is a late report, and the legal penalty for filing late is so insignificant.

While disclosure requirements can help reveal actual or perceived conflicts of interest, Payne said, disclosing conflicts of interest also lessens the public’s trust in government. In effect, the increased transparency doesn’t alleviate whether the trade looks corrupt or is corrupt.

U.S. Rep. Tony Wied, a freshman congressman elected to the Wisconsin 8th in 2024, is no stranger to stock trading. The Republican represents the northeastern portion of the state, and his investment activity consistently outpaces Wisconsin’s other congressional representatives.

A businessman from De Pere who was elected to his seat by a wide margin in 2024, Wied formerly owned a gas station chain in the Green Bay area. His district encompasses parts of Door County, Green Bay and Appleton. Like every other member of Congress, his seat will be up for grabs this year in the midterm elections. Wied has said publicly he plans to seek reelection.

Wied recently reported buying between $760,000 and $1.6 million in stock between Feb. 3 and Feb. 19, according to The Badger Project’s analysis of Wied’s periodic transaction report. The disclosure laws only require that members report ranges and not exact values. In the same time period, Wied also wholly or partially sold stock valued between about $600,000 and $1.5 million.

Members of Congress are required to file periodic reports with the Clerk of the House about 45 days after they, their spouse or their dependent children buy or sell a financial asset worth more than $1,000. Wied’s most recent report, filed in March, is five pages long and lists 25 separate transactions. His largest single transaction was a purchase of between $500,000 and $1 million in U.S. treasury bills, a low-risk, low-reward investment.

In comparison, no other representative among Wisconsin’s U.S. House members — Reps Mark Pocan, Gwen Moore, Scott Fitzgerald, Derrick Van Orden, Glenn Grothman, Brian Steil and Tom Tiffany — have filed periodic transaction reports in the last year.

Members must also submit yearly financial disclosures, which list their assets and liabilities.

The sum of Wied’s assets disclosed in his latest annual disclosure ranges from about $6 million to $13 million, according to a review by The Badger Project. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who has millions in commercial real estate and stocks, is the only member of Wisconsin’s delegation in Washington to top that. Johnson reported assets ranging from about $17 million to $81 million in 2025.

Wied’s staff wrote in an email to The Badger Project in January that the congressman’s trades are solely managed by an independent financial advisor and that Wied complies with all ethics laws and guidelines.

Wied’s office did not respond to The Badger Project’s request for comment for this story.

Payne told The Badger Project that Wied isn’t on his group’s radar.

“We haven’t seen anything that would draw this congressman to our attention,” Payne said.

But a congressman’s trades can be aboveboard and still raise suspicion because lawmakers who trade at a high volume will eventually make a transaction that either overlaps with their professional duties or appears to, Payne said.

“It’s only a matter of time for him to have trades over his career that are gonna raise questions whether or not he did anything wrong,” Payne said about Wied. “And when people question if their elected official is prioritizing their interest or prioritizing the official’s personal interest, you have a problem.”

That’s why Payne and his organization have endorsed the bipartisan Restore Trust in Congress Act. The bill was introduced last September and has been stuck in committee since. Among the bill’s 131 co-sponsors are Van Orden and Pocan. If it passes, the proposed legislation would bar members of Congress as well as their spouses and dependent children from both owning and trading individual stocks. Further, members would be required to either divest their current holdings or place them into a blind trust.

“It is a real legislative solution to the problem,” Payne said.

The bill is facing competition as Democrats and Republicans have since introduced their own, “watered down” versions, Payne said. The Stop Insider Trading in Congress Act, introduced by Steil, a Republican, and mentioned by President Donald Trump in his State of the Union address, would prohibit members of Congress from buying individual stocks. But members could continue to own their stocks and sell them. The Restore Trust in Government Act, the Democratic version, would include the president and vice president in the members included in a stock trading ban.

Payne said he has faith that the original bill will pass eventually, but that it will take another scandal to get the public to pay attention and demand Congress to take action.

Tony Wied’s trades in February 2026

SALES
MIN	MAX	STOCK	TRADE DATE
$15,001	$50,000	Paycom Software Inc	2/12/26
$50,001	$100,000	Block Inc Class A	2/12/26
PARTIAL SALES
$15,001	$50,000	Fortinet Inc	2/19/26
$15,001	$50,000	Broadcom Inc	2/19/26
$50,001	$100,000	Western Alliance Bancorp	2/19/26
$15,001	$50,000	Salesforce Inc	2/17/26
$50,001	$100,000	Lam Resh Corp	2/12/26
$100,001	$250,000	Artista Networks Inc	2/12/26
$50,001	$100,000	Take-Two Interactive	2/11/26
$50,001	$100,000	Block Inc A Class	2/11/26
$50,001	$100,000	Western Alliance Bancorp	2/9/26
$50,001	$100,000	Lam Resh Corp	2/9/26
$50,001	$100,000	Take-Two Interactive	2/3/26
$15,001	$50,000	Artista Networks Inc	2/3/26
$50,001	$100,000	Lam Resh Corp	2/3/26
$15,001	$50,000	Ulta Beauty Inc	2/3/26
PURCHASES
$50,001	$100,000	Visa Inc Class A	2/19/26
$15,001	$50,000	Labcorp Holdings Inc	2/19/26
$50,001	$100,000	Charles Schwab Corp	2/19/26
$15,001	$50,000	Micron Technology Inc	2/19/26
$500,001	$1,000,000	U.S. Treasury Bills	2/13/26
$15,001	$50,000	ServiceNow Inc	2/4/26
$50,001	$100,000	Him & Hers Health Inc	2/3/26
$15,001	$50,000	Hubspot Inc	2/3/26
$50,001	$100,000	The Trade Desk Inc Class A	2/3/26

This article first appeared on The Badger Project, an independent, reader-supported news nonprofit in Wisconsin. It is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.