Hawley Pushes National Data Center Moratorium A Week After Midterm Shellacking
Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is pushing for a nationwide data center moratorium a week after his party's midterm drubbing.
Simon August·Nov 12, 2026·5 min read
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Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is pushing for a nationwide data center moratorium a week after his party’s midterm drubbing.
Hawley listed a moratorium on data centers among five things he wants Senate Republicans to get done over the next six weeks, he wrote on X on Wednesday. He is the first Republican senator to back a nationwide moratorium, The Hill reported.
The senator wants the federal moratorium to last until Congress passes protections that guarantee taxpayers no rate increases, a Hawley spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Senate Republicans trying to figure out what to do in the next 6 weeks?” Hawley asked in the post.
The rest of his list called for defunding Planned Parenthood, suspending the gas tax, funding rural hospitals and passing the SAVE America Act.
Democrats won the Senate and the House on Nov. 3, in a decisive fashion that many have dubbed a “blue tsunami.” As of Thursday afternoon, NBC News has projected that the party has won at least 55 Senate seats, including an upset win in the deep red state of Mississippi. The Alaska race remained uncalled as Democrat Mary Peltola led in the raw vote count heading into ranked-choice voting tabulation.
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Hawley Pushes National Data Center Moratorium A Week After Midterm Shellacking - IJR
NBC News’ exit polls asked voters how concerned they were about utility costs. Fifty-three percent said they were very concerned, and Democrats won those voters 66 percent to 32 percent.
The same poll asked whether voters would favor or oppose building a data center where they live. Seventy-six percent were opposed, and Democrats won that group 64 percent to 34 percent.
CBS News’ exit polling found most voters who called themselves Republicans also opposed having a data center nearby. Most of them still voted for GOP candidates.
Fifty-seven percent of voters also said artificial intelligence will “do more to hurt society,” the NBC poll found.
The Nov. 3 results and exit polls “sent a clear message: Americans reject data centers in their communities, especially if they bring higher electricity bills,” Travis Fisher, director of energy and environmental policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said in a Nov. 5 statement to the DCNF.
“However, data center bans are a blunt instrument that would reduce upward pressure on utility bills but crush economic growth,” Fisher said.
Alex Stevens, manager of policy and communications at the free-market Institute for Energy Research, blamed state policies that favor wind and solar power.
“The real culprit behind rising utility bills is the massive transmission expense required to connect far-flung, taxpayer-subsidized projects,” Stevens told the DCNF in a statement.
“Policymakers should advance policies that let data centers supply their own power, while cutting regulatory red tape to make it easier to build that new generation,” Stevens said.
“Data Centers Done Right must be the new Republican chant,” Stuart Turley, president and CEO of Sandstone Group and host of the Energy News Beat podcast, said in a statement to the DCNF.
Republicans need “a plan that can install data centers not in neighborhoods, not on farmland,” Turley said.
The Pew Research Center surveyed 10,548 U.S. adults between July 20 and Aug. 9. Sixty percent said they would be uncomfortable with a data center opening near them, including 54 percent of Republicans and 68 percent of Democrats, counting those who lean toward each party.
Half said the facilities mostly hurt what they pay for energy at home, up from 38 percent in January, Pew found.
In February, Hawley and Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal introduced a bill that would make new data centers get their power from sources separate from the grid, Hawley’s office announced.
President Donald Trump has said he “never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers,” the release noted.
Congress.gov shows no movement on the bill, S. 3852, since the day it was introduced and sent to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall joined Blumenthal as a cosponsor in August.
Hawley called for a similar pause in June, saying the Senate should “absolutely” act on the Ratepayer Protection Act, adding that “there shouldn’t be any more data center development until it’s done,” E&E News reported.
Republican Ohio Sen. Jon Husted led the Senate push for the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed the House 417-3 on Sept. 16. It would have states weigh rules that put the added electricity costs of data centers on the tech companies that run them. Senate Democrats blocked it Sept. 30 in a 57-43 procedural vote, The Hill reported.
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