admin
Senator Katie Britt told Newsmax’s Wake Up America that the United States must “win the AI race” against China — and she wasn’t talking only about software. Britt argues this is also an energy race, and that the answer is commonsense Republican policy: build American power, protect ratepayers, and stop letting Big Tech shift the bill onto families.
AI and Energy: One Race, Two Fronts
“AI is not just an AI race. It is also an energy race. And we must win both,” Senator Katie Britt told senators and viewers alike. She pushed that point in a Senate Appropriations hearing where she pressed Secretary of Energy Chris Wright about China’s fast push into nuclear power. Secretary Wright warned that China is racing to build reactors, sometimes using copies of U.S. designs, and doing it cheaper and faster. That matters. If China couples cheap, abundant power with giant AI data centers, they get a long-term edge.
Ratepayer Protection: Who Pays for the Compute?
The Trump administration’s expanded Ratepayer Protection Pledge aims to keep household electric bills from ballooning as hyperscale data centers grow. Britt told the White House rollout that “data centers should pay for their own electricity” and that “America must win the AI race & hardworking American families should not have to pay for it.” That’s a simple principle: if private companies want to gobble up power for AI, those companies should fund the upgrades — not the grandmother next door.
Policy Tools: Nuclear, Loans, and Grid Upgrades
Britt and others in Congress are pointing to concrete tools, not just slogans. They’re talking about deploying advanced reactors like the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE), using Department of Energy loan programs, and speeding permitting for transmission and generation. Those moves won’t be free or instant — grid upgrades and new reactors take work — but they are the realistic route to keep America competitive without saddling ratepayers. If policymakers mean it when they say “win,” then money, permits, and clear rules have to match the rhetoric.
Politics, Priorities, and the Bottom Line
Make no mistake: this is political, too. Senator Britt frames GOP policy as commonsense and contrasts it with the Democrats’ agenda. Voters who care about national security and family budgets should pay attention. Winning the AI race isn’t about slogans or hand-wringing. It’s about making sure American power plants, transmission lines, and loan programs are ready — and making sure data centers pay their fair share. If we don’t get serious, Beijing won’t just win a tech race — it will set the rules for an energy-hungry future we all have to live under. That’s the race; it’s time we started running.
