Hagerty Advocates for the Ratepayer Protection Act

The bill passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 417-3

WASHINGTON-Today, United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) spoke on the Senate floor, imploring his colleagues to vote in favor of the Ratepayer Protection Act. The legislation is aimed at protecting consumers from taking on the increased energy costs associated with data centers and holding data center companies accountable for responsible investment.

*Click the photo above or click here to watch*

Remarks as prepared for delivery:

"America is undergoing technological advancement at unprecedented speed. As we push new frontiers in this era of superintelligence, innovation can have a tremendously positive impact on our society and our nation's competitiveness.

At the same time, we find ourselves neck-and-neck with adversaries racing to harness this technology for their own purposes. It's crucial that we keep up the pace, particularly regarding the development of large language models and computing power heretofore unseen. Our objective is clear: the United States must remain at the leading edge.

To do so, we need more energy.

Conversations are taking place across the United States about how we will meet the increased energy demands to power superintelligence. My overarching concern is that we do so responsibly and with local community needs in mind. Companies at the frontier of this emerging technology have the resources to pay for the infrastructure and costs associated to run these facilities. Importantly, the costs should not be borne by American families and small businesses.

My colleague from Ohio has worked incredibly hard to get this bill across the finish line and deliver basic protections for the American people. The public is overwhelmingly in favor of the protections it would provide. Many states have already embraced it, including my home state of Tennessee.

Tennessee adopted President Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge while preserving the ability of local communities to make decisions about data center development. The communities that have chosen to welcome innovation have seen incredibly positive impacts: more jobs; new investment; and an increase in their tax base that can allow a range of options from lower property taxes to greater investment in local public resources. Importantly, we're doing so while ensuring that the massive energy demands of data centers aren't passed along to Tennessee families and small businesses.

What is the only thing standing in the way of enacting these protections?

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

In the House, the Ratepayer Protection Pledge passed on an overwhelming bipartisan basis with a vote of 417-3. You almost never see this level of consensus in Washington. And yet, last week, Senate Democrats blocked it from passage right here on the Senate floor. Unbelievable.

Instead of comprehensive measures that put the decision-making power in the hands of state and local communities, my colleagues across the aisle want Washington to decide, making sweeping decisions for our nation without input from the towns and cities it would directly impact.

I cannot stress this enough: removing local choice and imposing blanket data center moratoriums are not the answer to responsible innovation. In fact, they are precisely what will kill innovation and put America underwater in the technological race against our adversaries. When it comes to investing in this new frontier, communities should be in the driver's seat. Localities should be able to decide when, where, and whether they should permit these facilities-especially when they have so much to gain from the investment.

We have seen a massive amount of misinformation circulating about data centers-their costs, their energy consumption, their water usage, and their noise levels. The truth is we can find solutions to the concerns of Tennesseans and Americans while putting the United States in the best possible position to succeed.

We need to speak out against these false claims, put a stop to the fearmongering that is jeopardizing America's opportunity to lead in a critical area for our economy and national security, and clearly communicate the advantages that communities can have when they embrace American energy, and American technological ingenuity, all while protecting-and even bettering-the lives of Americans. It's time to pass the Ratepayer Protection Act.

But here we are in an election season. Fearmongering has taken precedence over responsible and thoughtful action. False claims abound while America's technology leadership hangs in the balance. We should move responsibly, protect American communities, and support our nation's economic and national security. The House of Representatives seized the opportunity. It's time for the Senate to set partisan politics aside and pass the Rate Payer Protection Act."

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