Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina and chair of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, during a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, June 25, 2026.
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“The dual mandate of the Fed is really important: price stability employment, I also think we have to drill into the artificial intelligence conversation in South Carolina,” Scott said. “The real question we should ask is how do we make sure that these data centers pay their own way as it relates to electricity and water use.”
Scott noted that in South Carolina, some parties want to ban the data centers that are driving AI. Data center moratoriums are gaining ground across the country as voters recoil from increased utility bills.
“When you zoom out, the most important question is who wins the future? Is it China or is it America? Artificial intelligence will be that which threads that needle,” he said. “I want to make sure that we are on the right side of history, and frankly we have to solve the problems at home so that we can win the issue as a country.”
