Consumers Are ‘Subsidizing the Cost of Data Centers’: Senate Dems

Lawmakers press Trump administration on link between Big Tech’s AI buildout and higher household energy bills.

Akul Saxena

Nov 12, 2025 — 2 min read

Photo of Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., from his website.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2025 — Senate Democrats pressed the Trump administration this week over rising household energy costs tied to Big Tech’s expanding network of data centers, warning that federal inaction risked forcing Americans to “bankroll” corporate infrastructure.

In a Nov. 10 letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and White House Science and Technology Director Michael Kratsios, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Edward Markey, D-Mass., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., said the administration had “failed to prevent consumers from being forced to subsidize the cost of data centers.”

The lawmakers said new data centers from Meta, Google, Oracle, and OpenAI had intensified demand on strained grids as the administration rolled back renewable energy deployment.

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Department of Commerce Meta Data Center Congress Richard Blumenthal Edward Markey Chris Van Hollen Ron Wyden Bernie Sanders Howard Lutnick Michael Kratsios Google Oracle OpenAI White House Office of Science and Technology Policy National Energy Dominance Council