Sen. Bernie Sanders wants a national moratorium on AI data center construction. Few of his colleagues still want to go there.
“As far as actual policy prescriptions, I haven’t made a decision yet,” Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told Business Insider.
The Vermont senator and two-time presidential candidate first made the call in December, saying in a video posted to
Sanders told Business Insider last week that he plans to introduce legislation soon to support his claims.
“There are big problems in our economy and in our democracy that need to be addressed,” Sanders said. “And we don’t feel ready to do that.”
But his proposal is unlikely to become reality, given that Republicans control Washington.
“So this Congress is not going to do that,” Democratic Representative Mark Pocan of Wisconsin told Business Insider. “He’s pointing out the right issues.”
Republicans have generally rejected Sanders’ ideas. Even Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a leading critic of the AI industry, suggested he wouldn’t go that far.
“If these AI companies want to build data centers and local residents want to give them permission to do so, that’s up to local voters,” Hawley told Business Insider.
A small number of Sanders’ progressive allies support him. Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar told Business Insider that a moratorium “would be a good idea,” while Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib gave her full support in a post about X.
“I fully support calls for a moratorium on the National AI Data Center,” Tlaib wrote.
Few Democrats fully support the idea, but there is growing debate within the party about the impact of data centers and AI.
“I don’t want data centers to be shut down, but Bernie is right that we are sleepwalking away from risks that would alarm even the most optimists,” Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii wrote in X last month.
“What we know is that these AI data centers are driving people’s energy costs out of control,” Ocasio-Cortez told Business Insider. “There are a lot of problems coming out of these data centers, and I don’t think they should get a blank check from Congress.”
By contrast, the Trump administration has broadly supported the AI industry and its associated data center boom, including taking steps to limit states’ ability to enact AI regulations.
“Bernie has made it clear that the debate around AI is not about states’ rights or affordability,” White House Cryptocurrency and AI Czar David Sachs wrote in X in December. “He will block new data centers, even if the country wants to and generates its own electricity, halting progress entirely and allowing China to win the AI race.”
But even the government has come to realize that data centers are causing local resistance, primarily due to rising electricity prices.
Last week, President Donald Trump declared that he wants Big Tech companies to “pay for themselves” in data centers, leaving AI companies to foot much of the bill for the electricity their facilities consume.
“I don’t want Americans to pay higher electricity bills because of data centers,” President Trump wrote in Truth Social.
And on Friday, the administration and a group of governors called on major grid operators to hold a new emergency power auction due to rising costs caused by AI data centers.
