{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warnock-pushes-federal-reserve-chair-to-include-labor-in-new-federal-reserve-ai-task-force/", "Warnock Pushes Federal Reserve Chair to Include Labor in New Federal Reserve AI Task Force", "2026-08-20", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "GA", "Raphael G. Warnock", "W000790", "www.warnock.senate.gov", "warnock", "https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock is calling on Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh to include worker perspectives as the Fed assesses the implications of new technologies for the American workforce\n\nAll three individuals tapped to advise the Fed on artificial intelligence have financial ties to the industry\n\nSenator Warnock has long championed protections for American workers as automation and AI reshape the workforce and economy\n\nSenator Reverend Warnock, colleagues: \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\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Ranking Member of the Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy, and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, led a Senate coalition 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 Senator Warnock and his colleagues. \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\nLast month, Chairman Warsh launched the Federal Reserve\u2019s Task Force on Productivity and Jobs 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\nAt a Senate Banking Committee hearing in July, Senator Warnock pressed Chairman Warsh on how the Fed would protect American workers from potential job losses and economic disruption as AI reshapes the economy. In February, Senator Warnock introduced the bipartisan Investing In Tomorrow\u2019s Workforce Act to strengthen worker training and help Americans prepare for an economy increasingly shaped by automation and AI.\n\nIn addition to Senators Warnock and Warren, the letter is cosigned by U.S. Senators Andy Kim (D-NJ), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Jack Reed (D-RI).\n\nA copy of the letter can be found HERE and text is below:\n\n\u201cDear Chair Warsh:\n\n\u201cWe 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\n\u201cOn June 17, 2026, you announced the creation of five task forces to \u2018advance the conduct of monetary policy.\u2019 The task forces have been directed to \u2018follow the evidence, provide candid feedback, and produce rigorous findings for the Federal Open Market Committee\u2019 (FOMC). This included a Task Force on Productivity and Jobs, which is tasked with \u2018assess[ing] the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve\u2019s policy judgments.\u2019 The Fed explained that the task forces would be \u2018co-led by external advisers . . . with deep expertise in their fields\u2019 and \u2018supported by Federal Reserve Staff.\u2019\n\n\u201cOn 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\n\u201cThese 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 \u2018the best subject matter experts anywhere in the world and put them together,\u2019 particularly with people who \u2018might disagree with them.\u2019 You added that this design was meant to ensure each panel could have its own \u2018family fight\u2019 of divergent views. By your standard, however, a task force whose members are all financially tied to the AI industry cannot produce the genuine \u2018divergence of views\u2019 that you say you support.\n\n\u201cMultiple 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, \u2018Yes 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?\u2019 You replied that a task force member is an academic, yet this member (Professor Charles Jones) is currently on leave at Anthropic.\n\n\u201cWe\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 \u2018divergence of views,\u2019 while undertaking this assessment, including but not limited to perspectives from industry.\n\n\u201cWe 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\n\u201cAI 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\n\u201cWe look forward to continued engagement on this issue.\n\nSincerely,\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-21T05:30:57Z", "2026-08-21T05:32:22Z"]], "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.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warnock-pushes-federal-reserve-chair-to-include-labor-in-new-federal-reserve-ai-task-force/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0741041041910648, "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"}