Trump urges Senate to back energy permitting bill, codify ratepayer protection pledge

In his final post of the evening Sunday, President Donald Trump urged senators to back the American Affordability and Jobs Act, a bipartisan energy permitting bill that would speed up federal approvals for energy infrastructure projects.

“This Bill is a BIG WIN for U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENCE and DOMINANCE,” Trump wrote. He added that the bill would let the country build "Pipelines, Mines, and Power Plants faster than ever before."

A procedural vote on the bill is slated for Monday, according to Bloomberg, which described the measure as a “once-in-a-generation chance to overhaul the byzantine system for approving projects” needed to modernize energy production and distribution in the U.S.

The bill's Senate sponsors released a revised 494-page version Saturday. Still, several environmental groups continue to oppose the bill, and in the wake of Tuesday’s blue wave election, some Democrats have argued that the bill could be renegotiated in the next Congress.

Trump also wrote that the bill "codifies my RATEPAYER PROTECTION PLEDGE," which he said would ensure that data centers "build and pay for their own Electricity."

The president has touted that pledge for much of this year. In his Feb. 24 State of the Union address, Trump said tech companies had an obligation to provide their own power: “Many Americans are also concerned that energy demand from AI data centers could unfairly drive up their electric utility bills,” he said. “We're telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs.”

He doubled down three days later, saying: “Now it's mandatory, I made it mandatory where [tech companies] have to build their own electric power plant.” (The records reviewed included no order or rule making the pledge legally binding at that time.)

Tech companies signed the voluntary pledge on March 4. Trump said then that they would pay to upgrade existing power lines when their demand required it. Those companies also committed to, in Trump’s words, “provide or pay” for power and build plants “where possible.”

At that signing ceremony, a representative for Google said its investments in Arkansas would return “more than $1 billion back to Arkansas customers to reduce their electricity costs.” A Meta representative projected savings of $650 million toward Louisianans over 15 years: “We are proud to say today that we want to fully cover the cost of the energy that we use in our data centers.”