“Offered and won voice-vote adoption of Amendment No. 3 to H.R. 4553, funding a Department of Energy study of data center water use and its effect on local water resources”

During floor consideration of the FY2026 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill, Rep. Maxine Dexter of Oregon offered Amendment No. 3. The House Rules Committee's published amendment list describes it as increasing and decreasing funding for the Department of Energy Electricity account "to conduct a study assessing current and projected water use by data centers, associated impacts on local water resources, and best practices and technologies to reduce water consumption." On the floor Dexter said "data centers are sucking up our most precious resource: water," and that larger data centers "can each drink up to 5 million gallons per day or about 1.8 billion gallons annually." The amendment was folded into the Fleischmann en bloc (amendment Nos. 1-6, 9-20, 22, 34-36 printed in House Report 119-232) and the Committee of the Whole agreed to the en bloc by voice vote on September 3, 2025, so no individual votes were recorded. This is one of the few federal floor actions in this period specifically about data center water use. Outcome: Adopted by voice vote as part of the Fleischmann en bloc amendment Recorded vote: Offered the amendment, adopted by voice vote. Body: U.S. House of Representatives. Measure: H.R. 4553 (119th Congress) - Dexter Amendment No. 3.