{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-joins-warnock-warren-colleagues-in-pushing-federal-reserve-chair-to-include-labor-in-new-federal-reserve-ai-task-force", "Van Hollen Joins Warnock, Warren, Colleagues, in Pushing Federal Reserve Chair to Include Labor in New Federal Reserve AI Task Force", "2026-08-20", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", "vanhollen", "https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "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).\n\n\u201cAI\u2019s 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,\u201d wrote the Senators. \u201cA task force asked to assess AI\u2019s real economic impact on the labor force and the Fed\u2019s 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.\u201d\n\nThe letter comes after Chairman Warsh launched the Federal Reserve\u2019s 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.\n\nThe full text of the letter is available here and below.\n\nDear Chair Warsh:\n\nWe write to request that you ensure that the Federal Reserve\u2019s (\u201cthe Fed\u201d) 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\u2019s (AI) potential to disrupt the labor market bears directly on the Fed\u2019s ability to fulfill that mandate. We welcome the Fed evaluating AI\u2019s 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.\n\nOn June 17, 2026, you announced the creation of five task forces to \u201cadvance the conduct of monetary policy.\u201d The task forces have been directed to \u201cfollow the evidence, provide candid feedback, and produce rigorous findings for the Federal Open Market Committee\u201d (FOMC). This included a Task Force on Productivity and Jobs, which is tasked with \u201cassess[ing] the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve\u2019s policy judgments.\u201d The Fed explained that the task forces would be \u201cco-led by external advisers . . . with deep expertise in their fields\u201d and \u201csupported by Federal Reserve Staff.\u201d\n\nOn 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.\n\nThese 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 \u201cthe best subject matter experts anywhere in the world and put them together,\u201d particularly with people who \u201cmight disagree with them.\u201d You added that this design was meant to ensure each panel could have its own \u201cfamily fight\u201d of divergent views. By your standard, however, a task force whose members are all financially tied to the AI industry cannot produce the genuine \u201cdivergence of views\u201d that you say you support.\n\nMultiple 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, \u201cYes 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?\u201d You replied that a task force member is an academic, yet this member (Professor Charles Jones) is currently on leave at Anthropic.\n\nWe\u2019re 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 \u201cdivergence of views,\u201d while undertaking this assessment, including but not limited to perspectives from industry.\n\nWe 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\u2019s dual-mandate. AI\u2019s 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\u2019s real economic impact on the labor force and the Fed\u2019s 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.\n\nAI has the potential to greatly improve American\u2019s lives. It also has the potential to disrupt the labor market across sectors all at once. While reviewing AI\u2019s 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.\n\nWe look forward to continued engagement on this issue.", 1, "2026-09-04T09:19:37Z", "2026-09-04T09:20:58Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-joins-warnock-warren-colleagues-in-pushing-federal-reserve-chair-to-include-labor-in-new-federal-reserve-ai-task-force"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1652649845927954, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}