Reporters 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 youd 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.

Dont 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 wouldnt accept these proposals.

This was about politics.

And Democratic senators wouldnt accept any of the GOPs legislative propositions, either.

So lets 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 Senates 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 didnt 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 Lead