President Donald Trump has spent months cheerleading rapid data center expansion. Now House Republicans are preparing to advance bipartisan legislation to keep the AI infrastructure boom from dumping higher electricity costs onto American households.

House to Vote On Data Center Power Costs

House Republican leadership plans to bring the Ratepayer Protection Act to the floor next week, Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) spokesperson Taylor Haulsee confirmed Thursday, Reuters reported.

"The bill will be on the floor of the House next week," Haulsee told the publication.

The office of Speaker Johnson did not immediately respond to MarketDash's request for comment.

The bipartisan legislation would require state utility regulators to consider rules that make data centers cover some of the costs of new electricity generation needed to meet their massive power demands, Axios said in an earlier report.

The bill cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee in July and is expected to come to the floor under suspension.

Who Pays For the AI Power Boom

The push comes as data centers become a growing political flashpoint over electricity prices, strained power grids and water consumption.

The central concern is that utilities could pass the cost of new generation and grid infrastructure required to serve massive data centers onto other customers, potentially raising household electricity bills.

Lawmakers across both parties have increasingly backed measures to make large data center operators absorb more of those costs.

Trump Backs Data Center Expansion

Trump has repeatedly defended data center development amid mounting local opposition.

In a Truth Social post last month, he called communities resisting data centers backward and poor and argued that the projects could deliver jobs, investment and lower taxes.

Meanwhile, about 70% of Americans oppose data center construction in their communities, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by MarketDash editors.