Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act
This bill prohibits building or upgrading artificial intelligence (AI) data centers until laws regulating AI and AI data centers are enacted. It also restricts the export of AI-related computing hardware to countries without similar laws in effect.
Specifically, no AI data center may be constructed or upgraded until laws are enacted (1) subjecting AI products to prerelease federal review and approval for safety and effectiveness, and (2) ensuring that AI-related economic gains benefit workers and the people of the United States (including by preventing AI-related job loss).
Further, with respect to AI data centers built or upgraded after the moratorium ends, these laws must ensure
such centers do not increase consumers’ utility bills and do not harm the environment;
affected communities are empowered to approve or reject construction or upgrades;
such centers create union jobs subject to labor standards; and
no government subsidy is provided for the construction, upgrade, or operation of such centers.
Under the bill, the term AI data center includes collocated structures and equipment under common ownership or control used for AI development or operation that meet certain power and design specifications.
Additionally, the Department of Commerce must prohibit the export, reexport, or in-country transfer of specified computing hardware for AI-related use to any country that does not have comparable laws or regulations in effect.
Finally, the Department of Energy must periodically report on AI data centers’ funding sources, energy and water use, and labor.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 25, 2026. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 25, 2026: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced it on March 25, 2026. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 25, 2026, 169 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 169 days ago, on March 25, 2026.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers