Congress, Sloppified

Valerie Foushee has gone from AIPAC to AI PAC. Who else is next?

Author

Brad Johnson
February 24, 2026

PRESENTED BY THE CEUROW GEUROW SCHKRUNENOW

Overall, public awareness of the exploding data-center construction boom is low, but people hate it, pollsters with Climate Power find. One out of four K Street lobbyists are now working desperately for Team Fracking-AI to get Congress to let them flood the nation with data centers before Team Humans can mobilize to stop them. That’s the main business in Congress today, in the shadows of the Trump State of the Union address.1

The House Science investigations and oversight subcommittee held a powering hearing titled “Powering America’s AI Future” this morning “assessing policy options to increase data center infrastructure” with a top Google lobbyist, and House Natural Resources subcommittees held hearings with utility executives on cutting down federal forests for electric transmission lines and with mining executives on legislation to fast-track mining projects.

As Rob Mealey points out, one of the most insulting things about the AI boom is that we. already. paid. for. all. this. “It is publicly funded infrastructure being enclosed by private companies who are now paying lobbyists to write the rules governing property they didn’t build.” Public investments trained the scientists. Public investments developed the AI algorithms. Public investments built the Internet infrastructure. Public investments built the “data” training the AI. Public investments built the electricity and water infrastructure the bots require, and the public is paying for the electricity production and the pollution.

I remember when i was pretty new to smoking weed i took a hefty bong rip and we went to watch the Behind the Scenes Production for Bambi with friends. And 5 minutes in I was so mad i had to leave the room because everything sounded like this video

— Morg (@toolow.bsky.social)2026-02-19T21:31:38.076Z

An early test of the lasting power of AI cat’s-paws in Congress is the North Carolina 4th District rematch between incumbent Valerie Foushee, elected in 2022 with AIPAC and crypto cash, and climate-hawk challenger Nida Allam. The primary is March 3; early voting is already underway. As the Downballot’s David Nir summarizes a report from The American Prospect’s David Dayen:

One of the new communities that’s now part of the district is the town of Apex, which is near the proposed location for a 190-acre data center dubbed the New Hill Digital Campus. The growth of data centers and the ensuing backlash against them has become a major election issue in races across the country, and the primary for the 4th District is one such contest.

Foushee has not spoken out either in support of or against the New Hill project. She instead told attendees at a recent candidate forum, “While we’re talking about how we set up guardrails, what we make by way of framework for AI has to be where data centers can or should be located. What I don’t want Congress to do is to preempt what a local government decides for itself.”

Allam, by contrast, has made her opposition to the plan a centerpiece of her campaign.

“I’ve been hearing from hundreds of residents across this district with concerns about AI data centers,” she told the Prospect. “I am proud to have rejected donations from the AI lobby and the tech industry. People will know that I’m working for them.”

On Saturday, the Anthropic AI front group “Jobs and Democracy” reported a $280,000 ad spend for Foushee. Dayen reports they’ve already expanded the buy to an eye-popping $700,000.

“The same folks building data centers are also funding and lifting up MAGA Republicans and spending hundreds of millions of dollars,” Allam said in the Prospect interview. “If Democrats in the safest blue seats aren’t willing to take a stand, then who will?”

If you personally don’t have million in AI slop money to burn but you can spare a few minutes, join the Sunrise Movement in phonebanking for Nida.

Everything must go. "Trump to Sell the Economy During State of the Union Address"

Just because I did the work, here’s a look at the bills related to that mining hearing:

  • H.R. 1501, the Protecting Domestic Mining Act of 2025, amends the FAST Act to formally include mining projects within the federal expedited permitting process. It further prohibits the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council from implementing 2023 regulations that would have restricted which mining projects qualify for these accelerated, “fast-track” reviews.

  • H.R. 2969, the bipartisan Finding ORE Act, is legislation that allows the U.S. government to send geologists and technology to other countries to help them find buried mineral deposits, provided those countries give U.S. companies first dibs on mining them. The Democratic cosponsors are Reps. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-lll.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.), and Eugene Vindman (D-Va.).

  • H.R. 4781, the bipartisan RESCUE Act of 2025, grants “fast-track” status to projects that extract or process minerals from toxic waste sources, specifically acid mine drainage, mine tailings, and coal byproducts. The Democratic cosponsors are Reps. Scott Peters and Josh Harder of California.

  • H.R. 5929, the bipartisan Critical Minerals Supply Chain Resiliency Act, empowers the President (who, I remind you, is Donald Trump) to fast-track mining projects by legally linking a Presidential Determination under the Defense Production Act to the federal permitting process. After such a designation, the bill compels federal agencies to adopt a synchronized, accelerated schedule for environmental and land-use reviews under the FAST-41 system. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is the Democratic co-sponsor.

  • H.R. 7126, the bipartisan SECURE Minerals Act of 2025, would establish a $2.5 billion government-owned corporation run by a board appointed by the President (still Trump), the Strategic Resilience Reserve Corporation, to increase the domestic supply of raw materials for technology through investments in private mining and processing projects, including ownership stakes, loans, and purchase guarantees. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) is the Democratic co-sponsor.

  • H.R. 7458, the Domestic ORE Act, accelerates the U.S. mining permit process by imposing strict, short deadlines for environmental reviews and making approval the default if agencies fail to meet them. The bill limits long-term scientific analysis, narrows the scope of environmental impact studies, and drastically reduces the timeframe for public legal challenges to mining projects.

Black shouldered Kite hovering over the beach at Flinders.

Hearings on the Hill:

Climate Action Today:

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1  I recommend checking out MoveOn’s People's State of the Union tonight instead. If you’re in D.C., come down to 3rd St. between Jefferson and Madison on the National Mall.

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