The House voted 417-3 this week to pass the Ratepayer Protection Act, the first major bill on how data centers behind the AI boom affect utility customers’ bills to make it through Congress. Squad member Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) was one of only three Democrats to oppose the bill.
\n\nPolitico reports that the bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO) and Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), now heads to the Senate. House Republicans have made it their signature piece of legislation heading into the midterms.
\n\nOnly three Democrats voted against the measure, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Summer Lee (D-PA), and Delia Ramirez (D-IL), all progressives. Every Republican present voted yes. Tlaib claims the bill would “fail to meaningfully protect our communities.”
\n\n“Large load data centers must cover the full costs of any system updates they require, not families or small businesses,” Evans said. “We cannot accelerate this growth on the back of Americans working hard to pay their electric bill at the end of the month.”
\n\nHouse Majority Leader Steve Scalise joined floor debate Tuesday to back the bill, framing it as a way to manage the tradeoffs of the AI buildout. “As we’re advancing in technology, we’ve got to do…
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/tech/
