Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina and chair of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, stated that while the dual mandate of the Fed is important, he also wants to "drill into the artificial intelligence conversation in South Carolina." Scott said the real question is "how do we make sure that these data centers pay their own way as it relates to electricity and water use." He noted that in South Carolina, some parties want to ban the data centers driving AI, and that data center moratoriums are gaining ground across the country as voters recoil from increased utility bills. Scott framed the broader question as "who wins the future? Is it China or is it America?" adding that artificial intelligence will thread that needle and that the country must "solve the problems at home so that we can win the issue as a country."