Senate Democrats blocked the Ratepayer Protection Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at limiting the effect of datacentre costs on household and business electricity bills. The vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance the measure, leaving the issue of who pays for power infrastructure upgrades in focus ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The bill would have required utilities to consider standards making datacentres cover upgrades to electricity generation, transmission and distribution that they require. It passed the House almost unanimously, but Senate Democrats argued it would not effectively curb datacentres’ electricity use. The 57–43 vote was among the Senate’s last expected before senators return to their states to campaign; Republicans had also promoted the bill as a way to address voter concerns about energy costs.