Members of Congress are scrambling to jump on the growing anti-data center fervor sweeping through local communities across the country. Why it matters: Where there is this kind of intense grassroots uproar, there is also political opportunity — and lawmakers know it.The latest example is legislation from Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) to restrict companies' ability to sue municipalities for rejecting applications to build data centers.The bill — called "the Local Control Protection Act" — would also require developers to file a legally binding "community benefit agreement" or lose out on federal tax incentives, per legislative text first shared with Axios.State of play: Growing public anxiety about the rapid growth of AI is fueling bitter fights at the local level to stop data centers from being built, Axios' Madison Mills reported.Objections include alleged environmental damage, high energy usage and resultant utility cost increases, and noise, air and water pollution.More than 350,000 people signed a petition opposing a proposed data center bordering the Nashville Zoo, according to Axios' Nate Rau.In Seattle, local officials have moved to ban new large data centers for a year, Axios' Melissa Santos wrote.By the numbers: Legislative proposals to restrict data center construction were fairly rare on Capitol Hill before this year. Now, Republicans and Democrats alike are flooding the zone.In the last three months alone, more than a dozen bills have been introduced to either investigate data centers' impacts or restrict their proliferation in some way.Between the lines: It's not just toothless bills to commission reports and studies — though there are those too, looking at resource consumption, environmental ramifications and the effects on communities of color.Several proposals aim to protect consumers from any energy cost spikes that result from data center production.Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has introduced a bill to impose an outright moratorium on new data center construction "until legislation is enacted that safeguards the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence."What they're saying: "We should never let billion-dollar corporations supersede the voices of those who live in the community," Bresnahan, one of Republicans' most endangered incumbents, said in statement."The people who live here, work here, and raise their families here are the ones who know what's best for our communities."Reality check: The prospect of any of these bills passing is slim — Congress has notoriously made scant progress in passing any guardrails on AI.And as Axios previously reported, AI and AI-adjacent companies are spending big through super PACs in the 2026 midterms to curry favor with sitting lawmakers and get allies elected to Congress.