NEWS: Casar Leads Introduction of New Bill To Protect Workers From Threat of AI Mass Unemployment

WASHINGTON - Today, Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), joined by Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) and Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), introduced a new bill to protect American workers from the threat of mass unemployment caused by AI.

The AI Tax and Work Protection Act would tax large AI companies to pay for a new Work Protection Administration, which would create jobs to offset AI layoffs. By imposing a tax on AI, the bill would also save jobs by helping to cancel out the tax break that big companies currently get when they automate away a job.

The bill comes amid growing concern about AI eliminating millions of American jobs. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has predicted AI could lead to unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression, and AI-precipitated layoffs have already occurred at major tech companies, law firms, and banks.

The bill would:

1. Tax big AI companies. Companies pay a tax calculated on the higher of two values: the value of the 'tokens' they sell or the revenue they generate selling AI products. In the case of open-weight models, the tax is paid by the company deploying the model if that model is used by the company to reduce workforce costs.

2. Create a new Work Protection Administration, paid for by the AI tax revenue. The program would create jobs by investing in things like building housing, modernizing infrastructure, and improving access to child care and elder care. Grants would be given to states, cities, tribes, localities, nonprofits, unions, and educational institutions.

3. Increase the AI tax rate if the unemployment rate rises, so the program can grow if the need for jobs grows.

"This bill says: we will not let AI billionaires get rich by putting you out of work," said Casar. "Right now, the path we are on is clear: AI will turn a couple of billionaires into trillionaires but leave millions without work. That is unacceptable. And right now, the federal government is doing nothing to protect workers from the threat of AI mass unemployment. Our bill would protect American workers by making big AI companies pay their fair share."

"The rise of new technologies should be used to bring benefits to consumers and hardworking Americans. But as artificial intelligence continues to reshape our economy, too many workers are already losing jobs while executives and investors line their pockets," said Foushee. "Congress has a duty to ensure that this technology is not used to deepen wealth inequality, but instead that the economic benefits of AI are shared with working people. As a proud member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, I am grateful to have worked with Chair Casar on this critical piece of legislation, which will tax tokens used by large AI companies to fund public employment programs, protect workers from AI-driven job loss, and keep our country moving forward in every sector."

"If Congress does nothing, the rise of AI could create the biggest wealth transfer in history from the bottom to the top," said Jacobs. "Corporations are already laying off workers and raking in the profits from AI systems trained on human work - without ensuring workers share in those gains. That's why Congress needs to act now by preparing the economy for AI, creating guardrails so it augments workers instead of replacing them, and strengthening the social safety net. The AI Tax and Work Protection Act will tax certain uses of AI, especially when they lead to job cuts, and it will help create jobs for workers who may be left behind by the AI transition. If AI profits off human work, workers deserve job security and a share of those profits."

A copy of the bill is available here. Casar, Foushee, and Jacobs, joined by AFT President Randi Weingarten and economic expert Gene Sperling, announced the bill on a press call.

The bill has the support of organizations such as AFT: Education, Healthcare, Public Services, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Groundwork Action, and Demand Progress Action, as well as top policy experts.

"While Big Tech stands to rake in big profits from AI, workers could be left with nothing," said Alex Jacquez, Senior Vice President of Policy, Advocacy, & Research at Groundwork Collaborative. "We applaud Rep. Casar for this effort to get ahead of the potential impacts on jobs from AI and define who should pay the cost."

"The most direct policy response to mass unemployment is mass employment," said Asad Ramzanali, Director of AI and Technology Policy, Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator. "That was true in the 1930s, when FDR launched the Works Progress Administration, and it's true today as threats of AI-induced job loss loom large. Now is exactly the right time to design, debate, and prototype a modern WPA, and to demand that those profiting from displacement help fund new jobs."

"If Silicon Valley is right about AI replacing millions of jobs, we need a plan," said Brown University Assistant Professor of Computer Science Serena Booth. "If they're wrong, this proposed tax will raise little revenue. But if they're right and we fail to prepare, American workers will bear the cost. Taxing AI can ensure that the economic gains from automation are reinvested in American workers and communities."

"We applaud Representative Casar's continued leadership on artificial intelligence," said Sean Vitka, Executive Director of Demand Progress Action. "Serious, resilient proposals to address the unfolding impacts of this rapidly advancing technology are far too hard to find in Congress. Some policymakers don't take AI seriously enough, and some don't understand it at all. With this legislation, Representative Casar is instead demonstrating the kind of policymaking vision needed to meet the moments ahead."

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Congressman Greg Casar represents Texas's 35th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which runs down I-35 from East Austin to Hays County to the West Side of San Antonio. A labor organizer and son of Mexican immigrants, Casar serves as the Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 119th Congress. He also serves on the Committee on Education and Labor and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability.