Concerns on Proliferation of Data Centers

Floor Speech

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Ms. ANSARI. Mr. Speaker, this week, Donald Trump attacked communities across the country that are raising concerns about the proliferation of gigantic, power-hungry data centers. He called them backwards and poor.

According to the President, Americans should welcome data centers without question if they want to become ``successful and rich.'' His exact declaration was: ``Let data reign.''

That is a wildly out-of-touch response to Americans who are worried about their electricity bills, their water supply, and the future of their communities, all of which are being made dramatically worse by this administration.

I represent Phoenix, Arizona, the Nation's fifth largest city, and we don't need any more data centers in our communities right now. We are already on the front lines of a severe and historic water crisis. The Trump administration just slashed our Colorado River water allocation by nearly 30 percent.

Meanwhile, a single data center can consume tens if not hundreds of millions of gallons of water every year. If every currently planned project in the Phoenix area is built, data center water demand could increase by more than 450 percent.

It is extremely alarming, and my constituents are right to express their concerns on how our government allocates its resources, including by providing immense tax breaks to ultra-rich AI and data center companies.

Our electricity grid is also under enormous strain. Arizona families are facing higher utility bills, most especially as a result of Trump's illegal war in Iran, all while data centers demand staggering amounts of energy. Research has found that these facilities can make surrounding neighborhoods as much as four degrees hotter, in a city like Phoenix where extreme heat already kills people.

These are not irrational concerns. Even Vice President JD Vance admitted that 99 percent--his words--of the backlash against data centers is happening in places where they are driving up utility bills.

Protecting Arizona's water is not backwards. Keeping electricity affordable enough for seniors to turn their air conditioners on during the summer is not poor, and allowing the wealthiest companies on the planet to consume our water and power while working families absorb the cost is not progress.

But here is the real reason that Donald Trump is so eager to tell communities to stop pushing back against data centers: Donald Trump is the sole beneficiary of a trust holding nearly 115 million shares of Trump Media. Trump Media is pursuing a pending $6 billion merger with TAE Technologies, an energy company that explicitly markets its technology for AI data center expansion.

In other words, the President himself has an enormous financial interest in a company positioning itself to benefit from the growth of the data center energy market. He is once again using his Presidency to enrich himself and his family.

That creates a glaring conflict of interest when it comes to Trump using the power and platform of the Presidency to attack communities resisting the construction of new data centers.

Americans deserve to know whether he is speaking for the public interest or promoting his own investment portfolio.

I support Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes' call for a statewide pause. Arizona should not approve another massive data center until we have a comprehensive plan to protect our water, our electrical grid, and Arizona ratepayers.

Congress also needs to investigate the President's conflict of interest and demand full transparency about how financial holdings intersect with his administration's data center and energy policies.

We can believe in American innovation without handing Big Tech a blank check on our water supply and electricity bills. Arizonans are not backward and poor. We are tired of being told to sacrifice more so that billionaires and the President himself can become richer.

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