As artificial intelligence reshapes the nation's appetite for electricity, Congress has moved to draw a clear line between those who profit from the digital infrastructure and those who simply live beside it. The House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act 417 to 3 on Wednesday, a rare moment of bipartisan consensus requiring large data center operators to bear the costs of the power infrastructure their facilities demand, rather than passing those burdens to ordinary utility customers. The vote reflects a deeper reckoning with how the AI boom's physical footprint — its heat, its hunger for powe