(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Democrats expose GOP’s data center kickbacks [1] ['Oliver Willis'] Date: 2026-09-03 Republicans are lashing out after Democratic leaders singled out for criticism a provision in President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that is being used to supercharge the construction of unpopular AI data centers in low-income areas of the country. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke about the issue on Monday during a press conference. “Every single House Republican but one or two voted to unleash data centers on the American people in an unfettered fashion,” Jeffries said, calling Republicans “pro-data center without any restraints.” The next day, Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts made similar comments on the House floor, chiding Republicans for “bragging about giving tax breaks to Big Tech in order to build data centers” when the bill was under consideration just over a year ago. McGovern added, “With November on the horizon, some House Republicans are acting as if they did not turbocharge the data center buildout.” The Democrats are referring to the “Opportunity Zones” provision of the bill, which gives massive tax breaks to companies for projects that are placed in census-designated low-income areas. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” was opposed across the board by Democrats and became law via only Republican votes. In addition to helping data centers, the unpopular law cut taxes for the super rich and slashed Medicaid coverage for millions. Two people protest a data center project in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Aug. 21. AP GOP Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, complained to Politico about the Democratic line of attack. He said it was a “huge stretch” to link that specific provision to data centers. “Opportunity Zones control, like, everything—from child day care centers to manufacturers. Can data centers be used in them? Yes. But so can everything else,” Smith said. Regarding data centers, Republicans are in a bind of their own making. Public opinion polling from a host of sources finds strong, bipartisan opposition to data center construction, with even many Republicans opposing it. Voters have voiced concerns about how data centers use vital resources and affect electricity costs. Undeterred, some leading GOP figures, like Trump, have been pushing the centers, no doubt because many of the party’s top donors and wealthy allies in Big Tech are major investors in data center construction. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor.” This is not true. But the data center industry is using the law Trump signed to get what they want, and now his party is feeling the heat. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/3/800093453/news/democrats-expose-gop-data-center-kickbacks/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/