With the midterms closing in, Senate Republicans made one last push to convince voters they suddenly care about soaring energy costs.
It flopped.
The Senate on Wednesday blocked the GOP-backed Ratepayer Protection Act in a 57-43 procedural vote, falling three votes short of the 60 needed to advance it. The bill was designed to address rising electricity costs associated with the explosive growth of data centers by encouraging state regulators to require large power users to cover the cost of grid upgrades needed to serve them.
And the timing was hardly accidental.
Republicans had chosen one of the Senate’s final votes before leaving Washington for the midterm campaign to put the energy-cost issue front and center. Reuters reported that GOP senators hoped the vote would demonstrate their commitment to voters struggling with inflation and the broader cost-of-living crisis.
Yup. With Election Day approaching, Republicans wanted voters to see them doing something about high prices.
The problem is that this comes after months of supporting and defending policies associated with the administration’s economic agenda while Americans continue to complain about the cost of living.
Trump’s war in Iran has disrupted oil supplies and sent energy prices higher, while his administration’s tariffs have also become part of the broader debate over consumer prices. Republicans have nevertheless largely backed Trump’s agenda, even as the affordability issue has become increasingly difficult for the party to sidestep.
That is the political backdrop for Wednesday’s vote.
Suddenly, Republicans wanted to make sure everyone knew they cared about your electric bill.
Sen. Jon Husted, the Ohio Republican who led the effort, said the bill would give lawmakers a chance to prove they were “for lower electricity prices and holding data centers accountable.”
But there was a catch.
The bill wasn’t exactly the sweeping consumer-protection measure Republicans’ rhetoric made it sound like.
It would have required state utility regulators to consider adopting standards requiring large electricity users such as data centers to pay for the incremental infrastructure costs they create. It did not require states to adopt those standards.
That’s why Democrats called it a messaging exercise rather than a serious solution.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described the legislation as “toothless,” arguing that Republicans were offering a voluntary approach instead of requiring data centers to pay their full share of grid upgrades.
Republicans, naturally, blamed Democrats for blocking relief.
Husted argued that Democrats were preventing Congress from addressing an issue voters care about. Senate Majority Leader John Thune likewise accused Democrats of playing politics.
And Democrats accused Republicans of doing essentially the same thing.
The difference is that there was a very obvious political clock ticking in the background.
The House had already passed the bill 417-3, but the Senate was taking it up just before lawmakers headed home to campaign. The measure’s defeat now leaves both parties with plenty of ammunition for the final weeks before Election Day.
For Republicans, that creates an awkward problem.
The party wanted a vote that could be used to tell voters: We’re fighting to lower your bills.
Instead, it produced another partisan fight over whether the bill would actually do enough to lower those bills.
And the larger affordability problem isn’t going away.
Reuters reported last week that Senate Republicans were deliberately looking for ways to bolster their affordability credentials before the midterms, with voters struggling with inflation and energy prices amid the Iran war.
That makes Wednesday’s failed vote look less like the beginning of a new affordability agenda and more like a last-minute attempt to show voters that Republicans are doing something about prices.
The political message was obvious. The result was less so.
Republicans wanted to leave Washington with a vote they could point to on the campaign trail. Instead, they left with the bill stalled in the Senate — and the affordability issue still sitting squarely in front of voters.
