A group of House Democrats introduced a bill on August 6 designed to fight predicted mass layoffs spurred by the rapid advancement and widespread deployment of artificial intelligence, NBC News reported. Representatives Greg Casar of Texas, Valerie Foushee of North Carolina and Sara Jacobs of California introduced the AI Tax and Work Protection Act, which would create a new Work Protection Administration funded entirely by taxes levied on AI developers — based on either the input tokens required for a given AI system or the total revenue generated by selling AI products, whichever is higher.
Where the Money Goes
The Work Protection Administration's purpose is to create jobs to offset AI-linked layoffs. With the tax revenue, the office would invest in job creation in sectors like housing construction, infrastructure modernization, child care and elder care via local grants. Casar, who is looking to history for insight on how to solve the coming disruption, has argued that automation-driven unemployment demands a public response before the crisis arrives, rather than after.
A Week of AI Legislation
The bill is part of a burst of AI-focused legislation this week, according to Nextgov. Sen. Bill Hagerty introduced the BLADE Act on August 6, with bipartisan support from Sens. Tim Scott, Andy Kim and Catherine Cortez Mastro, mandating that the Commerce and Treasury Departments impose export controls and financial sanctions on foreign entities engaged in large-scale AI model distillation — weeks after the White House voiced concern over Chinese AI developers training models on American systems. Sen. Mark Warner introduced a bill giving the Financial Stability Oversight Council new duties overseeing AI in the financial sector, and Sen. Chris Coons introduced legislation to align U.S. immigration policy with AI competitiveness. Rep. Ashley Hinson's Health Insurance Transparency for Patients Act would require insurers to disclose when AI has been used to evaluate claims.
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