Hawley calls on Senate to pass data center moratorium

Key facts

• Hawley listed the data center moratorium among five priorities he posted to X for Senate Republicans.
• The report described Hawley as the first GOP senator to call for a nationwide data center moratorium.
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott halted new data center construction pending a statewide audit.
• Senate Democrats blocked the Ratepayer Protection Act pushed by Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio).

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called on Senate Republicans to pass a moratorium on data center construction, listing it among five priorities he posted to the social platform X, The Hill reported. Hawley, the first GOP senator to call for the move nationwide, framed the list as a plan for the party's next six weeks.

"Senate Republicans trying to figure out what to do in the next 6 weeks? Here you go: DEFUND Planned Parenthood, MORATORIUM on data centers, SUSPEND the gas tax, FUND rural hospitals, SAVE AMERICA ACT," Hawley wrote. The other items included a voting bill that President Trump had urged Republicans to pass.

The report said Hawley may find more Democratic support on some of the items, such as a data center moratorium or rural hospital funding, than on others.

Data centers became a campaign issue in the midterms. In Texas, GOP Gov. Greg Abbott halted new data center construction pending a statewide audit, after his Democratic opponent, now-Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, campaigned against him on the issue. Sen.-elect Annie Andrews (D-S.C.) called for a two-year moratorium in a debate, and Sen.-elect Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) attacked Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) over his past support for data centers. Husted pushed the Ratepayer Protection Act, aimed at mitigating data center electricity costs, which Senate Democrats blocked.

A Pew Research poll from the summer found a majority of voters believe data centers are bad for the environment, and half said they were bad for home energy costs, both shares up from Pew's January survey. Sixty-eight percent of Democrats and 54 percent of Republicans said they were not comfortable with a new local data center.