Jobs threatened by AI: Senator Ron Wyden proposes two years of worker support, partly funded by a data centre tax

A few days before the midterms, the Democratic leader of the Senate Finance Committee tabled two texts: a safety net for employees replaced by AI and a specific tax on data centre operators.

Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, his party's highest-ranking member of the US Senate Finance Committee, introduced two bills on 26 October as a response to fears of massive job losses linked to AI. He considers the current support mechanisms for workers "fragile and outdated".

Up to two years of income to retrain

The first piece of legislation, the Stability and Opportunity for Workers Act, created an income support program of up to two years for retraining employees, expanded unemployment insurance, and launched a pilot program to cover training costs. It also modernized the federal-state Extended Benefits mechanism, which would allow up to 52 additional weeks of compensation.

Data centers put to work

The second bill introduces an excise tax on data center operators and removes several tax benefits: exclusion from the research tax credit for capital expenditure, an end to accelerated depreciation at 100% and a ban on benefiting from the "Opportunity Zones" relief. On the Republican side, Senator Mike Rounds, co-chair of the Senate AI caucus, has warned that taxing the sector would slow it down in the face of international competition. Neither bill has a chance of moving forward before the result of the midterm elections, which will decide the majority in the Senate.