Reporter’s Notebook: Senate sneaks in one last political play before voters have their say

In politics, you sometimes just do what you can.

All 100 duly chosen and sworn U.S. senators understood why the Senate met for a week at the end of September.

Yes there was the college sports bill. Yes there was the confirmation of Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling. Yes there was a big hearing with former special counsel Jack Smith.

But you’d be badly mistaken if you thought both sides were really there to hammer out a package to bring down the cost of living for Americans.

Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of the senators.

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You are correct to say that Democrats blocked two bills that Republicans say voters really want. One was a measure to diminish the costs consumers pay for data centers and a plan to restrict stock trades by lawmakers. The latter bill even included a voter ID requirement – crucial to the GOP and its base. But Republican senators knew that Democrats wouldn’t accept these proposals.

This was about politics.

And Democratic senators wouldn’t accept any of the GOP’s legislative propositions, either.

So let’s start with the Ratepayer Protection Act.

Both sides know that voters are tripped out about AI and utterly losing it when it comes to data centers. An internal GOP memo in August revealed that the party was especially leery of what this meant for Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Husted to the Senate last year to succeed Vice President JD Vance. Husted helped foster development of data centers as an official back in the Buckeye State.

So, the final week of the Senate’s session before the midterms crawled with politics.

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Republicans aimed to curb skyrocketing utility costs associated with the construction of data centers.

"(People) ought to be guaranteed no electricity bills will go up by a cent because of a data center," said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. "It sends a clear message that these AI companies and these data centers can't just come into local communities and strip mine out (land). Raise the electricity rates. Kick people off the grid. Take their water."

But Democrats say the bill didn’t compel compliance by AI firms. This was just a suggestion that those who build the data centers help foot some of the bill.

"It is a sham. A charade because it has no enforcement," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

"Everything in that bill can already be done by a state regulator. Or it can already be done by a data center developer. And the bill requires nothing of them," argued Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

I pressed Kaine on if "something was better than nothing."

He disagreed.

"No. You shouldn't trick people. And this is not even something," replied Kaine. "It's nothing,"

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., piled on with, "The Ratepayer Protection Act is a fraud. It does not require any protections at all. While Americans are demanding real guardrails on AI and data centers, Republicans are offering a toothless messaging bill."

The bill is laced with midterm politics. Democrats claim Republicans called the vote to throw a lifeline to Husted.

Many Senate Republicans were ready for the Senate to leave town for the midterms. But they hedged their bets around the data center bill. And, Husted.

"Can you say 110 precent this is not a vote to help Jon Husted in Ohio?" yours truly inquired of Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.

"I think it will help him," replied Hoeven. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., agreed with Hoeven.

"The one thing I'll just say is that this is clearly a political ploy," said Kim. "This is not something that's good for the American people. But it's certainly good for Sen. Husted."

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The tilt between Husted and former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is one of the nation’s most contentious Senate contests.

"I don't think that there's a secret that Sen. Husted is trying to pass a piece of legislation so he could go home and run a campaign ad," said Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M.

Husted conceded as much.

"We gave everybody a chance to do something about affordability and the Democrats blocked it. So we'll go campaign on it," said Husted.

So yes. The Senate’s last week of session was about the midterms.

"Has there ever been a late September or October before an election that wasn't all politics?" asked Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

The evolving positions on the data center bill by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., may be an example of that.

Welch was a yea when asked about the legislation on September 23 , after it overwhelmingly cleared the House.

"I support it and I'd be glad to vote on it," said Welch.

But the Vermont Democrat flipped to nay when the issue approached a roll call vote on the floor.

"Why did you change? I asked Welch.

"Well, two things. One, they won't allow us to have an amendment. And the problem with this bill is that it has no teeth," he replied.

So the question is whether the sides prefer action. Or, if they’d rather have the issue. In fact it could be argued that Husted may have scored some political capital, deploying the blocked bill as a foil in an effort to contrast himself to Democrats.

"It ought to be something that should be a no brainer here on the floor of the Senate," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

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It’s rare that competitive Senate contests pivot on a solitary issue. And certainly an individual debate or vote. Democratic Maine Senate nominee Troy Jackson is pushing Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on her vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. It was one of the most factious confirmation battles in history. But Collins won reelection in 2020. That vote was eight years ago.

A vote like the one on the data center measure just before the election can plant a seed in the mind of voters. And since Republicans were struggling on affordability – and then AI and data centers emerged as an issue – forcing this vote was probably the best political play the GOP had at its disposal. In campaigns, you do all you can.

Let’s say for a moment that Husted loses narrowly to Brown in two weeks. And maybe Republicans would have held the Senate had Husted prevailed. Perhaps exit polling reveals that voters wished Republicans had done more on affordability. Party insiders would then accuse the Senate GOP brass of political malpractice by denying Husted a chance to make his case.

It was the best Husted could do. And the best Senate Republicans could do.

It may not work. But at least Republicans can say they did what they could.