7-minute read | 1,500 words
What to know this week
US looks to stop AI from inflating energy bills.
The Trump administration looks to minimize artificial intelligence’s (AI) impact on energy costs for Americans.
House is considering a bill to handle AI chip exports.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will consider a new bill related to chip export controls.
This week's full stories
Trump and states look to reduce AI’s impacts on energy bills.
THE NEWS
On Friday, the Trump administration announced a new initiative aimed at limiting how AI-driven electricity demand affects consumer energy bills. With this effort, the Trump administration emphasized that federal officials would work with both states and PJM, the largest grid operator, to strike deals with technology companies regarding energy bill prices.
In this announcement, federal and state officials signed onto a non-binding statement of principles. This statement calls on technology companies to pay a greater share of the costs for new power plants in the PJM region. Additionally, the statement also called for PJM to hold an emergency capacity auction for power and to institute new measures that would better protect consumers from capacity price increases.
Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, emphasized that this initiative aimed to ensure that the government was “powering the Mid-Atlantic and part of the Midwest’s future without charging its citizens a cent.”
The states that signed this agreement alongside the federal government include Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky.
THE KNOWLEDGE
As AI has only continued to rise in use over recent years, the demand for new data centers and subsequently increased electrical capacity has risen in conjunction. However, these growing demands have continued to impact consumers who have had their energy bills increased by electrical companies to offset the costs for new power facilities. For example, the Energy Information Administration found that the price of the average electricity bill in October increased by 5% from 2024 to 2025.
Outside of this effort, states have begun to propose new legislation that would, if passed, better protect consumers from rising energy costs. States that have proposed new legislation include Florida, New York, California, Maryland, and Oklahoma. One of the more recent bills was introduced in Maryland by Senator Van Hollen. In this bill, the Maryland State Senator aimed to ensure that technology companies were paying the majority of the costs to upgrade the electric grid. In the bill, the Senator cites data that shows by 2028, data center electricity use could double to as much as 12%.
Some technology companies have also expressed openness to paying more for their electricity. Last week, Microsoft released a statement emphasizing its commitment to pay for higher electricity costs. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s President, wrote in a blog post:
“We’ll ask utilities and public commissions to set our rates high enough to cover the electricity costs for our data centers.”
THE IMPACT
Though this latest initiative is not an official binding law or new executive action, it does represent how both federal and state lawmakers are facing growing pressures to address rising electricity costs for consumers across the nation. As these pressures continue to grow, already proposed bills or new legislation will likely gain more traction at both levels of government until a more comprehensive solution is implemented.
For citizens and businesses alike, people should understand the impacts that these laws will have on electricity costs for both the short and long term. If governments ultimately require technology companies to shoulder a greater share of electricity costs, those expenses are unlikely to disappear. Instead, they could be passed on through higher prices for cloud services, AI tools, or subscription products, shifting costs back onto consumers in other ways.
As AI-driven energy demand accelerates, the debate over who pays for the grid will continue to become a central political and economic question.
The US House considers a new bill related to chip exports.
THE NEWS
On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee overwhelmingly voted in favor of advancing a new bill, known as the “AI Overwatch Act.” In the Committee’s vote, forty-two members voted to advance the bill, with only two voting against the measure. The bill, which was originally introduced in December 2025 by Representative Brian Mast, aims to give Congress the ability to review chip exporting licenses.
More specifically, the bill would empower both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Banking Committee to have thirty days to review and potentially block chip exporting licenses.
When discussing the legislation, Representative Mast emphasized the importance of limiting advanced chip exports, stating:
“Our cutting-edge AI chips cannot be used by the Chinese military.”
The proposed bill comes after chip exports have become a contentious topic, especially after the Trump administration revised export rules to allow NVIDIA to export H200 chips.
THE KNOWLEDGE
Over the past several months, international chip sales have increasingly become a heated topic. This debate only grew more tense in 2025 after President Trump signaled his intent to allow NVIDIA to begin exporting its more advanced H200 chips to China. This policy shift gained greater traction in the beginning of 2026 after the federal government officially gave NVIDIA permission to sell its more advanced chips.
More specifically, the federal government is allowing NVIDIA to sell its H200 chips to China, provided these sales only went to “approved customers” and that the United States (US) would collect a 25% fee in return. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security did state that the agency also revised its previous export policies to ensure both the H200 chips and less advanced chips were only sold to customers who demonstrated “sufficient security procedures” and that the chips cannot be used for military purposes.
However, in a surprising development, Chinese customs authorities told companies that NVIDIA’s chips will not be permitted to enter their country. This update occurred after Chinese officials summoned domestic technology companies and explicitly instructed executives not to purchase these chips unless necessary. It currently remains unclear why Beijing wants to ban the use of these chips.
THE IMPACT
As debates over advanced semiconductor exports continue to escalate, the AI Overwatch Act signals growing congressional frustration with the executive branch’s handling of export controls. If passed, the bill would mark a significant shift by giving the lawmakers a direct role in overseeing US chip export policy, further politicizing an already fragile area of US-Chinese economic relations.
This Week's Caveat Podcast: The expanding reach of surveillance.
Dave Bittner and Ben Yelin dive into the Supreme Court’s decision to weigh in on geofence search warrants. Throughout this conversation, Ben and Dave discuss how the Supreme Court’s review of this case will determine if these warrants violate the Fourth Amendment. Additionally, our team also looks at how President Trump’s executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court has impacted the court’s ability to function.
OTHER NOTEWORTHY STORIES
Chinese-linked hackers target US entities with Venezuelan-themed malware.
What: A Chinese cyberespionage group targeted US government and policy-related officials.
Why: On Friday, reports emerged that a Chinese-affiliated group was targeting officials with Venezuelan-themed phishing emails. The group, known as “Mustang Panda,” reportedly used headlines and key issues to phish targets in attempts to steal data and establish footholds in US government entities.
For context, the US Department of Justice noted earlier this month that Mustang Panda was a “group of hackers sponsored by the People’s Republic of China.”
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy pushed back on these allegations, noting:
“China firmly opposes the dissemination of false information about so-called ‘Chinese cyber threats’ for political purposes.”
Jan 15, 2026 | Source: Reuters
EU phases out of high-risk technologies.
What: The European Union (EU) plans to phase out components and equipment in critical sectors from Chinese tech companies.
Why: On Tuesday, the EU announced its intentions to phase out Chinese technologies from critical sectors in a new draft proposal. These measures emerged after there had been an increase in both cyber and ransomware attacks and concerns related to foreign interference.
These new measures will apply to eighteen key sectors, which include detection equipment, connected and automated vehicles, electricity supply systems and electricity storage, water supply systems, and drones and counter-drone systems.
EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen released a statement emphasising:
“With the new Cybersecurity Package, we will have the means in place to better protect our critical [information and communications technology] supply chains but also to combat cyber attacks decisively.”
JAN 20, 2026 | Source: Reuters
Supreme Court to issue ruling on geofence warrant constitutionality.
What: The Supreme Court will rule on geofence warrants.
Why: On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to review the constitutionality of geofence warrants. For context, these warrants allow law enforcement to demand a company turn over information on cellphones online at a location during a specific time window.
In this case, the justices aim to review a defendant’s appeal that these warrants violated his Fourth Amendment protections regarding unreasonable searches. In the defendant's petition, the attorneys wrote:
“This Court - not a private business - should decide how the Fourth Amendment works in the context of geofence warrants.”
If the case is heard in this term, it will likely result in a decision being released over the summer.
JAN 16, 2026 | Source: The Hill