Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act

The Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act is a bill in the 119th Congress that would impose a temporary federal prohibition on the construction of new data centers and the expansion of existing ones until Congress enacts comprehensive legislation addressing the economic, environmental, and safety effects of artificial intelligence. The Senate version (S.4214) is led by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT); the two sponsors first announced the legislation jointly on March 25, 2026, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) introduced the House companion on June 24, 2026 (Source: congress.gov; ocasio-cortez.house.gov; sanders.senate.gov).

Provisions

The bill would institute an immediate moratorium on new data center construction and on the expansion of existing facilities until national safeguards are in place to ensure that AI is "safe and effective," that the economic gains of AI and robotics benefit workers rather than only the owners of large technology firms, and that AI does not raise electricity and utility prices, harm communities, or damage the environment (Source: ocasio-cortez.house.gov). It also would bar U.S. exports of AI computing infrastructure to countries that lack equivalent safety and environmental laws, and would mandate reporting on the financial vehicles involved in a data center's operations as well as each facility's water usage, energy usage, wastewater discharge, and worker wage and benefit information (Source: ocasio-cortez.house.gov). Reporting on the legislation described the moratorium as applying to facilities above 20 megawatts (Source: datacenterdynamics.com).

The House version was cosponsored at introduction by Representatives André Carson (IN-07), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Jesús "Chuy" García (IL-04), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Terri Sewell (AL-07), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) (Source: ocasio-cortez.house.gov).

Framing and context

Sanders framed the bill as resistance to "a handful of billionaire Big Tech oligarchs," and Ocasio-Cortez tied it to surveillance partnerships between immigration enforcement and AI companies, AI-generated sexual deepfakes, and rising electricity bills attributed to data center construction, arguing that Congress has an obligation to pause expansion "until we have a framework to adequately address the existential harm AI poses" (Source: ocasio-cortez.house.gov; broadbandbreakfast.com). The bill, which would halt new AI data centers defined as facilities above 20 MW until Congress passes safeguards on job losses, utility costs, and federal review of AI products before their release, drew nine House cosponsors; Broadband Breakfast dated the House introduction June 23, 2026, and DataCenterDynamics reported it June 25, 2026 (Source: broadbandbreakfast.com; datacenterdynamics.com). The bill is one strand of a broader 2026 congressional response to AI data center growth that also includes ratepayer-protection legislation advanced by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which Representative Frank Pallone described as potentially building toward a national data center pause (Source: datacenterdynamics.com). As an introduced bill without committee action or a companion-chamber vote, its near-term legislative prospects are limited.

Relationships

• instance-of: Data center siting
• related: AI data centers — the facilities the moratorium would cover
• related: AI environmental impact — water, energy, and emissions reporting mandates
• related: Energy — electricity-price and grid concerns motivating the bill
• related: AI labor disruption — the "gains benefit workers" condition
• related: Export controls — the bar on AI-infrastructure exports to countries lacking equivalent laws