Kennedy & Sens. Booker, Casey Introduce Bicameral Bill Aimed At Corporate Short-Termism, Stock Buybacks

Statement

Congressman Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) and U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Bob Casey (D-PA) today reintroduced the Worker Dividend Act--legislation targeting the increasing trend of corporations using profits for stock buybacks, instead of using them to raise wages for workers. Under the bill, if a publicly-traded company buys back its stocks to enrich its shareholders and CEO, it must also pay out a commensurate sum to all of its employees--the "worker dividend."

"A broken economic system that rewards corporate profits at the expense of working people only widens the inequality plaguing every corner of this nation. Any company showering shareholders with buybacks should be legally obligated to share their wealth with the workers who generate it. With the leadership of Senator Booker and Senator Casey, we can pass the Worker Dividend Act and rebalance the economic scales in this country," Rep. Kennedy said.

"While corporate profits are at their highest level in 90 years, wages for working families have been stagnant for more than four decades and workers' slice of the pie continues to shrink. A company that has the profits to reward its shareholders should also reward the employees who are helping create those profits," Senator Booker said. "This legislation has a simple premise: when companies do well, workers should do well. There's no reason that a country as rich and as powerful as ours should have to choose between great wealth for the few, like corporate executives and shareholders, and great opportunity for all of its citizens, including its workers."

"The 2017 GOP tax bill is just another tale of how the rich get richer. This law was sold to American workers as a "middle-class miracle" and yet it was actually a huge giveaway to large corporations who used their tax cut to engage in unprecedented corporate stock buybacks," Senator Casey said. "Before the 2017 tax bill was signed, the Senate voted on an amendment I authored which required corporations getting a tax cut increase worker wages at the same rate they increase payouts to their executives and stockholders. Not one Republican supported it. I am happy to join Senator Booker in our continued effort to put America's workers first, I hope my Republican colleagues will join us."

Between 2003 and 2012 companies on the S&P 500 dedicated 91 percent of their total earnings to stock buybacks and corporate dividends, leaving just nine percent for things like raises for workers and other workforce investments. In the wake of the GOP tax bill, stock buybacks surged to record highs of $1 trillion in 2018, while workers across the country faced wage stagnation. The trend of corporate short-termism is a contributing factor to wealth inequality that does long-term harm to economic growth. Stock buybacks are continuing to still outpace worker bonuses and raises -- more than $465 billion in stock buybacks have been announced so far in 2019.

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