A proposal to enact a moratorium on new data centers across the country is gaining traction among progressives on Capitol Hill.

Last year hundreds of advocacy groups, led by Food and Water Watch, sent House and Senate lawmakers are letter calling for a “National Data Center Moratorium Now!” They cited energy, water and other environmental concerns. But only Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders appeared to take them up on the plan.

Now, even though the idea remains unpopular with members of both parties, it’s gaining currency among lawmakers like former Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). Sanders said he’s preparing legislation.

“A few months ago, when I proposed a moratorium on AI data centers, it was perceived as a radical, fringe and Luddite idea. Well, not anymore,” said Sanders.

Supporters frame the moratorium as a temporary pause that would allow regulators to catch up with the breakneck pace of development. Not only are companies looking to build several thousand data centers around the country, they’re also working on securing the energy and water necessary to keep them running.

“The problem with a lot of these technologies is that once they’re out of the box, it’s difficult to pull them back in,” said Jayapal. “It is not too soon to stop this.”

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said, “This doesn’t mean we’re anti-innovation. We just need time to make sure we can legislate on behalf of our constituents, because tech companies are moving a million miles an hour.”

But other Democrats from across the ideological spectrum have rejected the idea of a moratorium. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) publicly rebuked Sanders, echoing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s warning that a moratorium would amount to waving a “surrender flag” to China. “I refuse to help hand the lead in AI to China,” Fetterman wrote on X.

Many lawmakers on Capitol Hill are taking cues from state and local leaders, some of whom have also moved to support a data center moratorium.

One proposal in New York would impose a three-year moratorium on proposed facilities that require too much energy. And in Denver, Mayor Mike Johnston is finalizing a plan that would give the city a year to review how data centers might affect utility bills and update zoning rules.

But even though data centers are causing a buzz, opposition to them is far from universal. A POLITICO Poll, conducted in January by London-based firm Public First, found that half of voters surveyed support building more data centers in the U.S., compared with 17 percent who oppose them. Support fell to roughly 36 percent if the data center was being built within three miles of where people respondents live.

The White House, which has been bullish on artificial intelligence helping bolster the unsteady economy, has been trying to get ahead of data center concerns by pushing companies to source their own energy.

And while progressives see the data center moratorium as siding with concerned communities, some Republicans say it reminds them of the Green New Deal, casting the left as hostile to growth, innovation and national competitiveness.

“It’s Green New Deal politics all over again, and it’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of,” said Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), whose state is experiencing a data center boom. “Let’s stop while everybody else surpasses us.”

Not all Republicans are as dismissive. House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) refrained from being overly critical of Sanders’ push, citing two proposed data centers in his district.

“I understand that local communities need to have plans and understand how more data centers would work in their communities,” Guthrie said. “But we have to win the AI war. And so I would be very reluctant to do a federal ban on data centers that would set us behind.”

James Fishback, a far-right candidate for Florida governor, has criticized national Republicans for prioritizing major tech firms over communities absorbing the impacts of rapid development.

“They’re not building an AI data center next door to Mar-a-Lago,” Fishback said. “They’re building AI data centers in our agricultural communities like Loxahatchee and Fort Meade, and I’m running for governor to stop that.”

Similarly, progressive Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said, “Why are we supporting data centers that drive up energy, electric and water costs for everybody, and pretty much only benefit AI developers? We need to get a handle on it.”

DORAL, Florida — President Donald Trump told House Republicans Monday he had one overriding legislative priority for 2026. Then they spent Tuesday talking about just about anything else.

Trump’s demand for passage of an updated SAVE America Act — a GOP elections bill that the House has advanced two versions of already — was met with less than complete enthusiasm from leaders gathered for the annual Republican policy retreat.

Speaker Mike Johnson and other senior lawmakers gave the unmistakable impression they now consider that bill to be a Senate problem — even after Trump insisted the House take it up a third time and add on more controversial provisions, such as a near-total ban on mail voting.

Informed that Senate Majority Leader John Thune had said the House should send the Senate another revised bill, Johnson appeared surprised at a fireside chat with reporters.

“Did he say that?” the speaker said. “Careful what you wish for.”

Instead, Johnson and other House Republicans huddled at Trump’s Miami-area golf resort tried to keep focus on the upcoming midterms and other long-percolating pieces of legislation that many privately see as having a much better chance of becoming law than the SAVE America Act.

Johnson did not include that measure, which Trump termed his “No. 1 priority” that would “guarantee the midterms” for Republicans, on a list of must-pass bills he presented to members in a closed-door session Tuesday morning.

Rather, he laid out a series of wonky policy measures — reauthorizations of key federal surveillance powers and water projects, a highway infrastructure package and a slimmed-down farm bill. All are expected to end up passing with some Democratic support and are devoid of red meat for the Republican Party’s MAGA base.

Johnson told members he was working with Thune to advance the SAVE America Act. Though, the measure faces a likely immovable obstacle in the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule. Several top leaders refused to commit to passing it through the House a third time with the changes Trump is seeking, which include the mail voting ban many Republicans oppose — even after the president threatened Monday not to sign any other bills until it’s enacted.

White House officials separately told upset Trump loyalists in private conversations at the Florida retreat that the bill would get a vote in the Senate soon, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the discussions. But those officials suggested there would not be any move to sidestep the filibuster as some MAGA firebrands are demanding.

Top GOP leaders are instead keeping hope alive for another party-line bill that would use the procedurally complex budget reconciliation process to sidestep a Democratic filibuster. A consensus on what policy priorities should go into such a bill, however, remains elusive.

Johnson told his members he is seeking to sketch out a “Venn diagram” of issues that every Republican can support. But even as some committee chairs tossed out possible ideas for a 2026 follow-on to last year’s GOP megabill, others openly doubted it would ever happen, given the thin majority and lack of policy agreement.

“The real question is, can they get everybody in line?” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said in an interview. “Those last 30” votes, he added, will be hard to get.

Budget Chair Jodey Arrington of Texas, perhaps the most bullish House Republican when it comes to reconciliation, sketched out a list of possible spending-cut targets early Tuesday — then said later in the day it would be “premature” to start the formal reconciliation procedural process just yet.

Even Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), chair of the House GOP campaign arm, questioned whether Republicans could pull off a party-line bill as the clock ticks on the midterms.

“It’s going to take every Republican agreeing, so we’ll see if we can get there,” Hudson said.

Other discussions at the retreat centered on the nonlegislative steps House Republicans could take to retain their tiny majority in November.

Trump’s top White House political aide, James Blair, told members in a private meeting they need to find “human” stories of constituents benefiting from the megabill tax cuts to highlight in campaign ads. He urged them to focus on tax-advantaged “Trump accounts” for kids’ savings and new tax exemptions for tips and seniors’ income — and encouraged them to use their taxpayer-funded mailing privileges to do it.

In the south Florida heart of Hispanic GOP support, members also confronted deep anxieties about their diverse 2024 coalition fraying ahead of November.

Blair addressed concerns aired by Florida Rep. María Elvira Salazar and other Republican lawmakers over whether Hispanic voters and others are being turned off by the president’s rhetoric around his immigration enforcement campaign, according to the people in the room for the discussion.

He encouraged members to curb their hard-line rhetoric about indiscriminate deportations, indicating it could cost them key voting blocs. He urged them to instead emphasize how the White House is actually focused on deporting violent criminals. One of the Republicans in the room said Blair expressed concern that overhyped talk of mass deportations would only serve to disappoint MAGA loyalists in the Republican base.

Some Hispanic GOP lawmakers recently shared their concerns with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles about an erosion of Hispanic support for Republicans. A few met with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to discuss similar concerns shortly before Trump ousted her from the role last week, one of the people involved in the conversations said.

Johnson acknowledged in the fireside chat with reporters that there has been a “hiccup” with some Hispanic and other voters who view the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement as “overzealous.”

“Everybody can describe it differently, but here’s the good news,” Johnson added. “We’re in a course-correction mode right now.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Tuesday he was hopeful that issues surrounding the Federal Reserve would be resolved, allowing Kevin Warsh’s nomination as central bank chair to move forward.

Tillis acknowledged that Warsh’s nomination might have to sit at the Senate Banking Committee “for some time,” given the senator’s objections to moving forward with any Fed nominees until a Justice Department probe related to the current chair, Jerome Powell, is concluded.

“But I’m optimistic it’s going to get cleared up,” he told reporters.

Tillis was scheduled to meet with Warsh on Tuesday afternoon, one of a series of meetings that the Fed chair nominee is holding now that his paperwork was officially sent to the Senate on Wednesday. Warsh met with Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) last week, according to a post on X from the senator, and he is scheduled to meet with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) this week.

“I’ve known Kevin since he graduated college,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) said, when asked if he had met with Warsh. “He’s one of the people that I’ve always consulted on policy matters.”

The committee has not yet scheduled a nomination hearing.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.