In December 2025, Senator Bernie Sanders became the first member of Congress to demand a moratorium on the construction of new AI data centers. The costs of the infrastructure that powers generative AI technologies like chatbots and image generators were soaring, but it was not clear that regular people were seeing much benefit. The ban was necessary, Sanders argued, to give “democracy a chance to catch up.”

Sanders could have also said that politicians needed to catch up to the public. Recent polling suggests more than 70 percent of Americans oppose the construction of data centers near their communities. It’s no wonder why: People have been seeing their power bills soar, high-voltage cables rammed through their properties, their water supplies sullied, and their days disrupted by the incessant hum of air conditioners keeping the buildings cool. It’s hard to think of another issue that has so quickly galvanized Americans across the political spectrum.

By March, Sanders had partnered with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to introduce a bill proposing a national data center moratorium. Some states and city councils had already started to halt construction on their own, but the federal bill would ban construction “until legislation is enacted that safeguards the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence,” such as environmental degradation and soaring electricity rates.