Ryan Mackenzie

Not analysed yet

A requested analysis is usually ready within half an hour; come back to this page or reload it.

Madam Speaker, communities throughout the Nation are seeing unprecedented growth in electricity demand, driven in large part by data centers and other energy-intensive facilities. That growing demand is already having a direct impact on communities like those that I represent in the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos, where, after 4 years of severe inflation under President Biden, residents are being put in a position where they could end up footing the energy bill for new data centers. The rapid growth of these facilities requires unprecedented new investments in our electric grid. While the grid capacity will catch up eventually, the short-term costs of those investments must not be passed on to families, seniors, and small businesses, many of whom don't want data centers in their communities in the first place. That is why I am proud to cosponsor the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, because large energy consumers who create the demand for new energy infrastructure should pay their fair share of the cost. We can maintain local control of development activities while also protecting existing ratepayers, and that is exactly what this legislation does. I thank Representative Evans for his partnership on this legislation, and I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 9340.