(The Center Square) \u2013 As debate continues to rage about the role lawmakers should play in regulating artificial intelligence and data centers, a pair of progressive Democrats offered their thoughts on what the federal government should do.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re going to be unleashing a Data Center Bill of Rights,\u201d said U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat representing California\u2019s 17th District. \u201cYou should not be able to put a data center into a place if the community is opposed to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community should have the ability to say no,\u201d he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Khanna\u2019s comments were made on Tuesday in Philadelphia during the first stop on his \u201cMade in PA: New Economic Patriotism Tour,<\/a>\u201d which has over a dozen events scheduled throughout Pennsylvania. Khanna, a fifth-term congressman and Bucks County native who previously served as a co-chair of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ bid<\/a> for the White House, is mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cThere should be rights in America to resist these data centers that are coming in, and they’re not putting investment into the community,\u201d Khanna said. \u201cThey’re not building schools. They’re doing it in defiance of the local community.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawmakers in 15 states, including Pennsylvania, have introduced legislation that would place a moratorium on building data centers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, or NCSL<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, New York became the first state<\/a> to impose a data center moratorium.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, when asked by an attendee at Tuesday\u2019s event whether he supports moratoriums like New York’s, Khanna said it should be a \u201cstate-by-state, community-by-community decision.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s what the Data Center Bill of Rights would do,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would give every community the right to say yes or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Khanna\u2019s district is in the heart of Silicon Valley. He said that some communities, like San Jose<\/a>, came to an agreement on data center development.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Khanna believes data center bans should be decided at the local or state level, some lawmakers argue that the federal government should step in to enforce a moratorium.<\/p>\n In March, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., announced the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Center Moratorium Act<\/a>, which they said would institute \u201can immediate federal moratorium on AI data centers until strong national safeguards are in place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAI and robotics are creating the most sweeping technological revolution in the history of humanity. The scale, scope and speed of that change is unprecedented. Congress is way behind where it should be in understanding the nature of this revolution and its impacts,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cBottom line: We cannot sit back and allow a handful of billionaire Big Tech oligarchs to make decisions that will reshape our economy, our democracy and the future of humanity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe need serious public debate and democratic oversight over this enormously consequential issue,\u201d Sanders continued. \u201cThe time for action is now. We need a federal moratorium on AI data centers.\u201d<\/p>\n The House version<\/a> of this proposal, authored by Ocasio-Cortez, has a total of 13 co-sponsors. None are from Pennsylvania.\u00a0<\/p>\n State Rep. Chris Rabb, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania\u2019s 3rd Congressional District, who is expected to be elected to the seat representing nearly half of Philadelphia in November, joined Khanna at Tuesday\u2019s event. Khanna was an early supporter of Rabb\u2019s congressional campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rabb supports a federal moratorium on data centers and claims those who oppose them are not anti-technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAI is not going away,\u201d Rabb said. \u201cBut here’s the concern I have, I believe this massive explosion of AI data centers is meant to displace American workers forever, and I believe that’s evil.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese data centers, this explosion of data centers is not to make us better compete against the Chinese,\u201d Rabb said. \u201cIt is to displace massive amounts of workers for the enrichment of the one percent. And I will oppose that.\u201d<\/p>\n AI data centers are also increasingly on the minds of Pennsylvanians.\u00a0<\/p>\n