Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez Push Bill to Freeze New AI Data Center Construction

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a news conference at the Capitol on Wednesday to unveil legislation that would freeze the construction of new AI data centers across the country until Congress enacts comprehensive federal regulation, placing the two progressive lawmakers in direct collision with the tech industry and the White House.

The pair announced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, which aims to halt construction of AI infrastructure until lawmakers enact measures requiring government reviews of AI products, preventing mass job displacement, and limiting increases in consumer electricity prices. Early drafts of the bill define AI data centers subject to the moratorium using physical parameters, including energy load thresholds, and the moratorium would remain in place until strong national safeguards are in place to ensure that AI is safe and effective.

Sanders declared at the press conference: "We cannot sit back and allow a handful of billionaire Big Tech oligarchs to make decisions that will reshape our economy, our democracy and the future of humanity. We need serious public debate and democratic oversight over this enormously consequential issue. The time for action is now. We need a federal moratorium on AI data centers."

Ocasio-Cortez said big tech companies are seeking "endless energy" and "are now so desperate to profit off the AI boom that they are racing to construct thousands of giant AI data centers and jacking up the utility costs of everyday Americans to pay for it." The scale of the problem is tangible: U.S. electricity consumption hit a record high in 2024 and is expected to keep rising as data centers continue to expand, with a typical AI-focused data center consuming as much electricity as 100,000 households.

The bill extends well beyond a simple construction pause. The legislation would also require government reviews of AI products and prevent mass job displacement. It would require federal review and certification of AI models before release, enact protections against AI-driven job losses, mandate union labor in data center construction, limit environmental damage from data infrastructure, and prohibit the export of advanced chips to countries without comparable rules. Sanders had signaled his intentions well before Wednesday's announcement: Sanders first voiced support for a moratorium in December, after a coalition of more than 230 progressive groups sent a letter to Congress warning that the "rapid, largely unregulated rise of data centers to fuel the AI and crypto frenzy is disrupting communities across the country and threatening Americans' economic, environmental, climate and water security."

The federal push reflects a wave of local action already underway. More than 100 local communities around the country have enacted moratoriums on data centers, and 12 states are pushing forward with statewide moratorium proposals. Towns and counties in Missouri, Indiana, Georgia, and North Carolina have passed their own temporary bans since August 2025. Companies that committed to Trump's pledge to protect ratepayers include Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon, all of which are spending heavily to expand data center capacity to meet surging AI demand.

Opposition was swift. The Data Center Coalition warned a moratorium "would limit internet capacity, slow critical services, eliminate hundreds of thousands of high-wage jobs, drain billions in local tax revenue and raise costs for American families and small businesses." Most lawmakers of both parties rejected the idea, with Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania siding with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's warning that a moratorium amounts to waving a "surrender flag" to China. "I refuse to help hand the lead in AI to China," Fetterman wrote on X.

The White House said last week that Congress should "preempt state AI laws" that it views as too burdensome, laying out a broad framework for addressing AI concerns without curbing growth or innovation. The legislation is unlikely to advance in either the House or Senate, but it signals the deep concerns many progressives share about the growing impact of data centers and artificial intelligence. Sanders previewed the legislation months earlier during a California trip where he met directly with AI company executives, making clear the moratorium was not an impulsive reaction but a deliberate opening position in what is now a defining congressional debate over who controls the AI build-out and at whose expense.