WATCH LIVE: Data center bill falls short as Senate holds final votes before the midterms

A Senate bill meant to address public anxiety over data centers and household electricity costs stalled on Wednesday, failing to reach the 60 votes needed to advance. The tally was 57 to 43. Senate Republicans had saved the vote for one of the chamber's last before senators leave to campaign for the midterms, hoping it would show action on utility bills, according to PBS NewsHour.

The measure, sponsored by Ohio Republican Sen. Jon Husted, is modest. It directs utility regulators to consider a federal standard under which large power customers pay rates covering the grid upgrades needed to serve them. Democrats call it merely a suggestion. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called it "a fraud, plain and simple" and said Republicans want the requirement optional while Democrats want it mandatory. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico has proposed instead that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission write rules forcing such customers to pay for necessary upgrades. The House had approved Husted's bill 417-3, but at least seven Democratic senators would have had to join Republicans, and some worried passage could help Husted, who faces a difficult reelection fight against former Sen. Sherrod Brown. Brown's ads label Husted the "face of data centers."

Republican leaders are casting Democrats as obstructionists. Majority Leader John Thune also brought up Sen. Pete Ricketts' stock-trading ban for a vote, which likewise failed; Democrats object to its voter identification requirements. Polling shows about 6 in 10 Americans favor limiting new data centers. Both chambers are expected to be out during October.

Summarized by PolitiKool from PBS NewsHour’s reporting. Read the full story at PBS NewsHour →