WASHINGTON — A bipartisan House bill designed to limit the electricity costs of data center expansion is stalled in the Senate, opening a new contest among lawmakers over how Congress should regulate the industry’s growing demand for power. The Ratepayer Protection Act passed the House on Wednesday. It would pressure states to require technology companies to cover the cost of new power infrastructure built for data centers, rather than shifting those expenses onto households and other customers. But the measure hit a roadblock Thursday when Sen. Martin Heinrich, Democrat of New Mexico, objected to a request by Sen. Jon Husted, Republican of Ohio, to advance it by unanimous consent. That procedure would have allowed the Senate to move the bill without a roll-call vote. The setback has left senators promoting bills that take different approaches to data center power use, even as the time available to pass legislation before the end of the year narrows. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, and Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, asked Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee leaders to hold a hearing and advance their GRID Act. The bill would require new data centers to use power sources separate from the existing electric grid and give current facilities 10 years to transition to independent sources. “There is bipartisan consensus that the federal government must act to protect consumers from these high costs,” Blumenthal and Hawley wrote in a letter to committee leaders. They said the legislation would prevent consumers from financing technology companies’ electricity and infrastructure expenses. Heinrich is backing a separate proposal, the GRID Savings Act. It would direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to establish rules requiring large electricity customers to pay for certain grid improvements connected to their service. The measure also would encourage large technology companies to voluntarily finance transmission upgrades. “Rather than voluntary pledges, or suggestions to states, Congress needs to pass real legislation with real teeth,” Heinrich said while opposing the House-passed bill. Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, is pushing the DATA Act, which would allow data centers to avoid some power regulations if they build independent generation and transmission systems that are not connected to the broader grid. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, has introduced the Power for the People Act. It would bar data center-related costs from being passed on to households and small businesses. Van Hollen’s measure and Heinrich’s proposal could have a better chance of moving next year if Democrats gain control of Congress, according to the political dynamics surrounding the competing bills. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, has not ruled out a vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act before the 2026 midterm elections. He said passage would require cooperation from Democrats and would depend on the Senate’s schedule in the coming weeks. The dispute carries immediate political stakes for Husted and other vulnerable Republicans who have supported data center development. Electricity bills have become a central criticism of projects that require large amounts of power, and the lawmakers face attack advertisements over their positions. Democrats argue the House bill would give Republicans political cover without providing sufficient protections for ratepayers. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois called it a “political rescue bill for the senator from Ohio.” Husted countered that Democrats now bear responsibility for failing to support the only proposal he believes could pass before the election. “They own the issue of higher electricity costs in this country,” he told reporters after the vote. Sen. John Hickenlooper, Democrat of Colorado and a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said any bill that advances this year would need to be “non-political.” He cautioned that lawmakers who have strongly supported data centers could face skepticism if they abruptly adopt measures portrayed as efforts to halt the industry. The competing proposals reflect a broader national concern: Data centers powering cloud computing and artificial intelligence can bring investment and jobs, but they also can require major additions to generation, transmission and local infrastructure. Without clear rules about who pays, those costs may be distributed among utilities’ broader customer base, potentially increasing bills for residents and small businesses. Committee Chair Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, is expected to play a central role in determining which proposal, if any, receives consideration. His committee has accumulated several data center-related measures, but no path forward had been announced as of Friday.