Vice President JD Vance defended the Trump administration’s data center expansion push, arguing that technology companies must support local communities by addressing noise complaints, electricity costs and providing economic benefits.
Vance Touts $50,000 Teacher Bonuses
On Saturday, in a post on X, Vance shared a clip discussing the benefits and drawbacks of data centers and the administration’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge.
“Data centers can be good. They can also, as in your case, cause real problems,” he said.
Citing an example in Louisiana, he said local teachers would receive $50,000 bonuses per teacher from revenue generated by a data center.
“Which I’m sure is going to make the school system a lot better, make the teachers a lot happier and get them some of the money that they’ve earned,” Vance said.
He added that the facility would also “feed electricity back into the grid.”
Vance Warns Against Higher Power Bills, Noise
Vance said some residents had complained that their electricity bills increased by $300 after a data center opened nearby.
“And that’s totally unacceptable,” he said.
Explaining the pledge, Vance said the administration had “effectively required the data centers to say before they go into a community, they’re going to make sure that they’re good community citizens.”
He added that companies should provide community benefits “rather than making it impossible for your three-month-old to sleep,” referring to noise complaints.
“I think that basic principle has to apply because there is a good that comes from data centers too,” Vance said.
Trump Pushes Data Center Expansion
Last month, Trump said communities hosting data centers would benefit through teacher bonuses or direct payments to residents, which he called a “dividend.”
In August, he said data centers could become a bigger industry than oil, urging states to cut taxes to attract projects and warning that slowing development could hinder U.S. AI leadership.
In July, the White House expanded its voluntary Ratepayer Protection Pledge to nearly 200 utilities, governors, electricity cooperatives, public power providers and developers to ensure data center operators covered electricity generation and transmission costs instead of passing them on to households.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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