Spurred by Donald Trump’s endorsement of the audacious fossil-fueled AI industrial-expediting bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and twenty-two other Senate Democrats helped Republicans bring BAAJA to the floor in a 73-25 vote.

BAAJA co-sponsor Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) had claimed he was only backing BAAJA because the Trump administration promised it would stop blocking offshore wind projects. “This is how you blow up a permitting deal,” he huffed in October, after the Trump DOJ targeted another project. But Whitehouse soon revealed his bluff, admitting last week he was desperate to pass the bill no matter what.

As the vote commenced, Trump was in the White House telling reporters that of course his leopards will eat Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-R.I.) face.

In addition to Whitehouse, Schumer and his fellow Wall Street senator Kristen Gillibrand, his heir apparent Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and the bill co-sponsor Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Democrats in support of fast-tracking the legislation were Sens. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Chris Coons of Delaware, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Angus King of Maine, Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Andy Kim of New Jersey, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and Mark Warner of Virginia.

Today will conclude with the (50-vote margin) vote to begin debate on the bill, and the Senate will then recess until Monday, November 16th. On Tuesday, November 17th, the Stop Data Centers Coalition is holding a rally on Capitol Hill to stop the BAAJA barrage.

By Wednesday, the Senate will conclude its debate on BAAJA with another 60-vote-margin cloture vote. That vote is the last best chance for Americans to stop Trump’s gulags and golf courses, stop Musk’s launch pads and hyperscalers, and save the Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and other bedrock laws.

David Bookbinder responds to the final text: “BAAJA wreaks havoc with environmental laws, legislative norms and, by insulating countless projects from the reach of all federal laws, our democracy. It must be stopped.”

Al Gore calls BAAJA “an extremely serious mistake” that “would do far harm than good.” He continues that “now is not the time to give the Trump administration freer rein to double down on fossil fuels,” and concludes, “after last week’s historic election, we will have a new Congress in January that can strike a far better balance.”

At 6 pm, New Yorkers are gathering outside of Schumer’s Brooklyn apartment to protest his sell-out of the American people on behalf of Big Tech executives—whose number include his daughter Jessica Schumer, who was hired away from Amazon to become a top lobbyist for OpenAI.

Join an in-district meeting against BAAJA.

Call your members of Congress.

Organize.

Election day isn’t over.

Hearings on the Hill:

Climate Action Today:

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