Van Hollen Joins Warnock, Warren, Colleagues, in Pushing Federal Reserve Chair to Include Labor in New Federal Reserve AI Task Force

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined Senators Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), along with Senators Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), in demanding that Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh include worker perspectives as the Fed assesses the implications of new technologies for the American workers whose jobs may be displaced by artificial intelligence (AI).

"AI's potential to reshape work is significant, and the stakes for workers are high: even a partial shift in how tasks are automated could affect millions of jobs across the economy, and workers have the necessary first-hand accounting of how AI is currently reshaping day-to-day tasks," wrote the Senators. "A task force asked to assess AI's real economic impact on the labor force and the Fed's mandate to promote maximum employment cannot do so accurately while excluding the very people best positioned to describe how that impact is unfolding: American workers."

The letter comes after Chairman Warsh launched the Federal Reserve's Task Force on Productivity and Jobs last month to evaluate how AI and other emerging technologies could affect the economy and the labor market. Yet, in an alarming conflict of interest, all three advisors selected to advise the Fed on AI have financial ties to the industry.

The full text of the letter is available here and below.

Dear Chair Warsh:

We write to request that you ensure that the Federal Reserve's ("the Fed") newly-announced Task Force on Productivity and Jobs includes the perspective of individuals who represents the interests of workers. Congress gave the Fed a dual mandate that includes promoting maximum employment, and Artificial Intelligence's (AI) potential to disrupt the labor market bears directly on the Fed's ability to fulfill that mandate. We welcome the Fed evaluating AI's effects on productivity and jobs, but it is important that the Fed search outside of industry when appointing alternative, diverse viewpoints for this new task force.

On June 17, 2026, you announced the creation of five task forces to "advance the conduct of monetary policy." The task forces have been directed to "follow the evidence, provide candid feedback, and produce rigorous findings for the Federal Open Market Committee" (FOMC). This included a Task Force on Productivity and Jobs, which is tasked with "assess[ing] the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve's policy judgments." The Fed explained that the task forces would be "co-led by external advisers . . . with deep expertise in their fields" and "supported by Federal Reserve Staff."

On July 9, 2026, the Fed announced the three individuals who would lead the Task Force on Productivity and Jobs: Marc Andreessen, cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz; Charles Jones, a researcher at the Anthropic Institute; and Asha Sharma, executive vice president at Microsoft and Xbox CEO. All three have direct financial ties to the AI industry.

These potential conflicts were raised directly at your press conference on July 29, 2026, where you defended your selection process by explaining that your approach to building each task force was to find "the best subject matter experts anywhere in the world and put them together," particularly with people who "might disagree with them." You added that this design was meant to ensure each panel could have its own "family fight" of divergent views. By your standard, however, a task force whose members are all financially tied to the AI industry cannot produce the genuine "divergence of views" that you say you support.

Multiple members on the Senate Banking Committee, including Senators Warnock and Smith, raised these questions during your hearing before the Committee on July 15, 2026. Senator Warnock asked you, "Yes or no, will the Fed include anyone on this task force with an alternative viewpoint on AI? For example, anyone who represents the workers whose lives may be upended by increased adoption of AI tools and technology?" You replied that a task force member is an academic, yet this member (Professor Charles Jones) is currently on leave at Anthropic.

We're glad the Fed is assessing the economic effects of AI, among other emerging technologies, and we generally support your assertion that the Fed must have a "divergence of views," while undertaking this assessment, including but not limited to perspectives from industry.

We strongly believe, however, having more viewpoints represented will produce stronger conclusions and support the FOMC in improved policymaking. Additional viewpoints on AI will help better inform the FOMC as key monetary policy decisions are made in order to fulfil the Fed's dual-mandate. AI's potential to reshape work is significant, and the stakes for workers are high: even a partial shift in how tasks are automated could affect millions of jobs across the economy, and workers have the necessary first-hand accounting of how AI is currently reshaping day-to-day tasks. A task force asked to assess AI's real economic impact on the labor force and the Fed's mandate to promote maximum employment cannot do so accurately while excluding the very people best positioned to describe how that impact is unfolding: American workers.

AI has the potential to greatly improve American's lives. It also has the potential to disrupt the labor market across sectors all at once. While reviewing AI's impact on employment and inflation, the Fed cannot leave out workers and only hear from the people who stand to benefit the most financially from the continued deployment of AI. We therefore urge you to add individuals with no financial ties to the artificial AI industry and who represent the perspective of workers to this task force before it begins issuing recommendations to the Fed.

We look forward to continued engagement on this issue.