[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S1318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Mr. President, this afternoon, we are going to vote on a resolution 
to end the energy emergency that President Trump declared upon taking 
office.
  Apparently, according to the resolution's authors, this energy 
emergency declaration isn't justified. In response to that, I would 
like to just read a headline from the Washington Post last March. That 
headline is:

       Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power.

  Let me just repeat that for my Democratic colleagues:

       Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power. 
     [Running out of power.]

  The article stated:

       Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running 
     short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean 
     technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving 
     utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to 
     expand the nation's creaking power grid.

  Then, of course, there was this headline from another major news 
outlet in December:

       More than half the US faces blackout risks in next decade, 
     NERC finds.

  Again:

       More than half the US faces blackout risks in next decade . 
     . .
       Large swaths of the US--

  The article noted--

  could experience rolling blackouts due to capacity shortfalls during 
extreme weather events in the next decade, according to a grid 
reliability analysis released Tuesday.
       The Midcontinent Independent System Operator faces the 
     highest risk of energy shortfalls starting as soon as this 
     summer, according to the report from the North American 
     Electric Reliability Corp., which can force grid operators to 
     trigger rolling outages to prevent wider system harm.

  These aren't niche publications. These are mainstream media outlets--
mainstream media outlets reporting on the fact that ``America is 
running out of power.''
  If my Democrat colleagues don't consider that an emergency, I just 
don't know what to say.
  As these articles--and others--make clear, the U.S. electric grid is 
extremely shaky.
  Thanks in substantial part to a movement to shut down fossil fuel-
fired powerplants before reliable sources of clean energy are available 
to replace them, America is running out of power, even as we face huge 
new power demands. The boom in data center construction--in particular 
to power the rise of artificial intelligence--is placing, and will 
place, vast new demands upon the grid.
  A recent CNBC headline noted:

       Data centers powering artificial intelligence could use 
     more electricity than entire cities. [ . . . more electricity 
     than entire cities.]

  If we continue on our current course, there is a very real risk that 
we are not going to be able to meet that demand; that we are going to 
end up with widespread brownouts and blackouts or electricity rationing 
or de facto rationing forced by sky-high energy bills.
  I realize that this is an inconvenient truth to my Democrat 
colleagues. Why? Because it interferes with their plans to force the 
United States off conventional energy.
  If Democrats acknowledge that we are rapidly approaching an energy 
crisis, they might have to actually consider the consequences of their 
energy plans; to consider what might happen when you put immense new 
power demands on an already shaky grid by forcing Americans into 
electric vehicles; to consider what might happen if you drastically 
limit domestic oil and gas production, even as the Nation continues to 
require steady and affordable supply of conventional fuels.
  So I do understand why Democrats prefer not to acknowledge our 
national energy emergency. But acknowledge it or not, it is there. And 
if we don't take action, we are going to be facing some very serious 
problems in the very near future.
  So I am grateful to have a President who recognizes and acknowledges 
the energy emergency facing our Nation, and I look forward to working 
with him to unleash American energy production and achieve a secure, 
affordable, and reliable energy future with the American people.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.