Wyden Unveils Bills to Tax AI Data Centers and Extend Jobless Aid for Workers Displaced by AI

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, released the text of two bills on Friday, October 23, aimed at blunting the impact of artificial intelligence on American workers, Roll Call reported. One would put an excise tax on data center operators; the other would widen unemployment insurance and income support for people who lose work to AI. Coming days before the midterm elections, the package is an early signal of what Democrats might pursue if they regain control of the Senate.

What the bills would do

The Stability and Opportunity for Workers Act would create an income support program lasting up to two years for workers who retrain, set up a pilot program for tuition assistance in job training, and update the federal-state Extended Benefits program to allow up to 52 additional weeks of unemployment benefits, according to a bill summary. The second bill, which Wyden has discussed for months, would levy an excise tax on data center operators and shut them out of several tax breaks: no research credit for equipment expenses, no 100 percent bonus depreciation and no Opportunity Zone business benefits.

Wyden called the proposals a needed first step toward wage security in a time of high costs and economic uncertainty. Americans feel the looming fear of AI job losses, he said, and the support meant to protect laid-off workers is brittle and out of date and needs updating before the next economic crisis.

The pushback

Opponents argue that taxing AI would slow its growth and push investment abroad. Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican who co-chairs the Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus, said in June that taxing the technology would slow it down and send it elsewhere, adding that he would rather see those decisions made in the United States than in China. Several Democrats have backed different ways of taxing AI, and some populist Republicans have voiced concern about the technology and interest in further guardrails.

The bills join a crowded field of proposals in Washington, from Anthropic's own frontier AI safety bill to the stalled AI kill-switch bill. The White House is charting its own course, from a late-September order requiring agencies to refer to AI as “super intelligence” and the work of the Super Intelligence Task Force to a March framework for a national AI policy that would broadly preempt state laws.

What to watch

Whether any Republicans sign on, whether the data center tax becomes a campaign issue in districts hosting new facilities, and whether the bills are reintroduced in the 120th Congress after the election.