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.

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.

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.