Sanders, Takano reintroduce Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act

The bill was initially introduced by Takano in 2021 and Sanders introduced a Senate version in 2024, so this is a reintroduction rather than a new proposal. It arrives amid a corporate race to use generative AI to produce more work with fewer people, and Sanders has pointed to an ease on American labor as a benefit he sees stemming from the technology.

Sanders frames the measure as the next chapter in a labor struggle stretching back more than a century. Debs pushed for shorter hours in an era of 12-hour shifts, Ford Motor Company established a five-day, 40-hour week for factory workers in 1926, and Congress cemented the 40-hour standard through the Fair Labor Standards Act signed in 1938. Sanders argues that standard has outlived the economy it was built on, citing Economic Policy Institute data showing net productivity up roughly 90% since 1979 while typical workers' hourly pay rose about 33%.

A six-country study coauthored by Boston College sociologists Wen Fan and Schor, conducted with the advocacy group 4 Day Week Global, found nearly 2,900 workers across 141 companies who cut schedules by about five hours a week reported less burnout and better physical and mental health, job satisfaction, and work ability after six months. For Sanders, the open question is whether such efficiencies will result in layoffs and larger corporate profits—or allow employees to reclaim some of their time. Whether the bill advances may hinge on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, chaired by Cassidy, which would consider a Senate version.