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Ratepayer Protection Act

The Senate considered the Ratepayer Protection Act, a bill concerning data centers. Senator Schumer, a Democrat, spoke against it, saying it does not require data center companies to pay for the costs they impose on nearby communities and sets no mandatory safety rules for artificial intelligence. He urged the Senate to reject the bill and instead pass a Democratic alternative that would make these companies cover their own costs and set strong, mandatory AI safety standards. He also referred to a recent White House AI summit, saying it produced no federal guardrails against catastrophic risk and no signal that the administration plans to act.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text (opens in a new tab)

1 statement

Charles E. Schumer, NY

Democrat
“I want the Senate to reject this Republican bill on data centers and pass our Democratic bill instead. The Republican bill does not force data center companies to pay for the costs they cause in nearby towns, and it sets no required safety rules for artificial intelligence. Our bill would make these companies cover their own costs and set strong, mandatory safety standards for AI.”
  • Speech in the House

    Signal 41 of 100

    Much of this statement went to praise, blame, greetings, routine procedure or general stories rather than reasons, requests or specific points.

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Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, now on the weak data center bill, the only thing that came out of Trump’s big AI summit yesterday was a photo op; no Federal guardrails to protect against catastrophic risk, no signal from Trump that he plans to act. All Trump had to say was ``there should be tremendous self- regulation.’’ Relying on self-regulation is how we got into this mess. Americans are calling for real solutions, real guardrails, real solutions on AI. Republicans’ toothless data center bill completely misses the mark. Senate Republicans would do nothing to require data center companies to pay for their rising costs in the surrounding communities; Senate Democrats want to make it mandatory for data centers to cover their own costs by law, not by suggestion or hope or whim. This bill doesn’t do anything to mandate safety standards for AI. Democrats would require safety standards to protect the American people. A guardrail without teeth isn’t a guardrail. The Republicans’ legislation doesn’t even apply to all data centers. This shoddy bill couldn’t get any flimsier. That is because the Republicans really don’t want to do it; they don’t want to oppose some of the big interests that don’t want any regulation. To put it simply: Republicans’ data center bill follows Trump’s lead in ignoring Americans’ pressing concerns about AI while our legislation would actually address them with guardrails that have real teeth. Americans don’t want another hollow messaging bill. They don’t want to watch Senate Republicans give themselves a pat on their back when they have accomplished nothing. Americans want to see this Republican majority put the country first once and for all. Senate Republicans think even listening to the American people ought to be optional too. I urge my colleagues to join us in taking real action on AI. I urge Republicans to put aside their feeble bill and put Americans over party.

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