Senate votes on data center, insider trading bills

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White House Headlines September 30

White House Headlines September 30

It’s Wednesday, and the Senate is busy. 

Latest on Ratepayer Protection Act

Latest on Ratepayer Protection Act

Schmitt stays in the limelight

Iran targets U.S. midterms

Ken Griffin’s $3 billion donation

Programming note: We’re Joshua Feldstein and Abigail Walker, filling in for Cate today. Please send us your tips, comments and story ideas to jfeldstein@thehill.com and awalker@thehill.com.

🎤 ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL 

Senate votes on data center, insider trading bills

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) could go 0 for 2 on major Senate legislative items on Wednesday.

Senators began a three-part vote-series at 11:30, with Thune moving to advance the Ratepayer Protection Act, which aims to ensure data centers don’t increase consumer energy costs; the Stop Insider Trading Act, a congressional stock trading ban passed by the House in July; and advancing the nomination of Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling to the permanent post.

Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) views the Ratepayer Protection Act as “a political lifeline” for its sponsor, Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), who’s locked in a tough midterm race — likely dooming its chances of getting the 60 votes needed.

Husted, along with Sens. Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Pete Ricketts (Neb.) and Roger Marshall (Kan.)—all running for reelection—are looking increasingly vulnerable in states that went safely for Trump two years ago.

An AARP poll released earlier this month found Sullivan trailing former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) by 5 percentage points. The Bowling Green State University (BGSU) survey had Husted 3 points behind his Democratic opponent, former Ohio Sen.Sherrod Brown.

As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton points out: “In Ohio — where 75 percent of voters oppose the construction of data centers in their communities, according to one recent poll — Democratic Senate candidate Brown has tagged Husted as ‘the face of data centers in Ohio.'”

No deal: Democrats were set to sink the Stop Insider Trading Act, which includes a stock-trading ban but also elements of the SAVE America election reform package, which are a non-starter for most Democrats.

The Stop Insider Trading Act is the latest attempt to put limits on how lawmakers and members of their family can buy and trade stocks — a major topic of conversation due to the rise in prediction markets.

The act was passed by the House in July.

The deal with data centers: The Ratepayer Protection Act seeks to address data centers’ electricity costs, but Democrats say it doesn’t go far enough.

With Schumer speaking out against the proposal, it appears unlikely to get the 60 votes needed to advance in the upper chamber. 

The vote could come anytime this afternoon.

Republicans accuse Schumer of playing politics with a popular bill, pointing to its 417-3 passage in the House.

“The Ratepayer Protection Act is........

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