Aberdeen: Democrats will push for greater oversight of AI
Lizzy Galbraith, Senior Political Economist at Aberdeen Investments, comments on the US election result:
The scale of the swing in this election may see Democratic ambitions in Congress grow. Attempts to pass legislation introducing greater federal oversight of AI and the data centre build out are likely, as are measures attempting to encourage clean energy projects. But any legislation is likely to require bipartisan cooperation in the Senate as well as avoid a Presidential veto, limiting its likelihood.
Greater change to the policy landscape for data centres, potentially including the rollback of tax credits and less permissive planning laws, is possible given the broad Democratic victories in gubernational races, including in Texas and Ohio.
Democrats will use their larger than expected majorities in the House and Senate to push for a reversal of cuts to healthcare funding passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) passed last year. Rollback of these cuts is the likely condition for passage of additional defence spending. As a result, we see modest fiscal loosening as being likely.