Data suggests many candidates are embracing AI this year to boost their image and portray their opponents unfavorably. But whether it will turn out voters remains unclear.
Page F2From§Eachthe sunrise edition — 16 September 2026
Duke Energy CEO promises data centers won't raise power bills; the House drafts law in case he's wrong.
As it ran on the front
On Aug. 31, President Trump told any town resisting a data center to get used to being "backwards and poor." Two days later, on Sept. 2, his own commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, went on CNBC and called ratepayers' complaints about water and power use "propaganda." Two days after that, on Sept. 4, a Gallup poll found Americans would rather live next to a nuclear plant than an AI data center, by over 20 points.
The politics caught up before the policy did. On Sept. 10, Sen. Bernie Sanders announced a bipartisan hearing on what he called the "extraordinary dangers" of unregulated AI, set for Sept. 16 — today. Two days after that, on Sept. 12, the House scheduled a vote for the following Tuesday on a bipartisan bill to make tech companies, not ratepayers, cover the infrastructure and power costs of new data centers. The next day, Sept. 13, Speaker Mike Johnson said AI leaders need to sit down with Congress on safety laws, while resisting calls for a moratorium.…
…(cont) Today, both halves of the argument are on the record at once. Duke Energy CEO Harry Sideris told the Washington Examiner, in an exclusive, that the rapid build-out of AI data centers will have "no impact" on electricity bills. The same week, the House is moving a bill that exists for the sole purpose of making sure that if Sideris is wrong, the tech companies pay for it, not the customer. A company does not usually need a law protecting the public from a cost its own chief executive says will not happen.
That same Wednesday, the Senate got its first look at how hard it will be to pass even the narrowest AI safety bill — no vote, no timeline, just a sneak preview of the difficulty. Sanders and Steve Bannon, from opposite ends of the map, are both telling the same administration to regulate the technology before it finishes regulating the power grid and the labor market first.
Sixteen days separate "backwards and poor" from "no impact on your bill." In that span: one presidential insult, one cabinet secretary's denial, one poll putting a nuclear reactor ahead of a server farm in the neighbor rankings, one hearing on "extraordinary dangers," and one House bill written to hedge against the very claim the industry's own chief executive is making, under his own name, to reporters. Congress cannot yet pass a bill making AI safe. It can already draft one making sure AI's electric bill goes to the company that built it, not the family that didn't ask for it. The ledger, this week, is the only witness that hasn't changed its story.
“The guy tells you flat out your bill's not going up, then his own party writes a law just in case he's wrong — that's not confidence, hon, that's a hedge fund. Sixteen days ago the President told towns to get used to being poor if they don't take the data center; now the House is quietly building the parachute for the company, not for you. Follow the paperwork: nobody drafts insurance against a fire they're sure isn't coming.”
“Look, Harry Sideris runs one of the biggest utilities in the country, he'd know if bills were going up — wait, why is his own party drafting a bill to stop it then? No, that's — that's just Congress being thorough, being proactive, that's leadership, planning ahead. Did I say "proactive"? That's not what I meant. The point is nobody's bill is going up, and also, sure, here's a bill in case it does.”
The receipts
Congress is reacting to warnings from AI leaders that the technology poses existential dangers. Rep. Bill Foster joins "The Daily Report" to discuss.
The Senate will get its first sneak peek Wednesday at just how hard it could be to pass even the most narrow of artificial intelligence legislation amid a growing debate over whether, if at all, to regulate the technology that industry leaders warn may pose doomsday threats to humanity. But do not expect the effort, […]
EXCLUSIVE — The CEO of one of the largest utility companies in the United States said that the rapid build-out of artificial intelligence data centers will not increase electricity bills, a possibility that has scared voters ahead of the November midterm elections. Duke Energy CEO and President Harry Sideris told the Washington Examiner…
Washington is scrambling to manage the abrupt panic around AI development, but party politics, a limited legislative window and lack of consensus makes it an uphill, next-to-impossible task. In the wake of a researcher’s viral warning about the technology, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are floating numerous proposals to prevent…
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon are both pushing the Trump administration to regulate artificial intelligence as industry leaders warn of risks to humanity. CBS News' Caitlin Huey-Burns has more.
The president’s posts about artificial intelligence on the social media platform he founded were met with an unusual volume of criticism.
· House to take up bill shielding consumers from energy costs tied to data centers from the morgue, 12 Sep 2026
· Trump Commerce Secretary Once Said Data Centers ‘Suck Water,’ Now Scoffs That Such Concerns Are Just ‘Propaganda’ from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Out-of-Touch Trump Says Communities That Reject AI Data Centers Will Be 'Backwards and Poor' from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· Panic! At the Data Center: Americans would rather live next to a nuke than an AI facility from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Sanders Sets Briefing on 'Extraordinary Dangers' Posed by Breakneck AI Development from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Speaker Johnson says AI leaders must meet with Congress on safety laws after ‘end of humanity’ warnings — but resists calls for moratorium from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.