Senate Republicans have agreed to extend their session next week to vote on cost-of-living legislation including a data-center electricity bill — which has meanwhile stalled after senators blocked each other's fast-track bids — with less than 40 days to the November midterms. Majority Leader John Thune announced the plan, reported September 26.

The House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act 417-3 on September 17. It would require states to "consider" frameworks making data centers of at least 100 megawatts bear the full cost of their electricity and grid infrastructure, instead of spreading costs across all ratepayers.

In the Senate, Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) tried to fast-track the bill via unanimous consent on September 17-18. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) blocked it as lacking enforcement power and pushed his own stricter GRID Savings Act. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) then blocked Heinrich's bill in return, leaving both dead on the fast track.

The cost pressure is real: PJM grid capacity prices jumped from $28.92 to $329.17 per megawatt-day, with data centers blamed for 63%, about $9.3 billion, of the increase, per its independent market monitor.

The politics are raw. Husted faces a tight Ohio race against Sherrod Brown, whose campaign brands him "the face of data centers in Ohio," and an NRSC memo calls data-center sentiment a genuine campaign liability.