The Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren said she would introduce a bill proposing an Accountable Capitalism Act in Congress on December 11, aimed at increasing corporate responsibility, strengthening the voices of workers and others in corporate decisions, and shifting corporations away from “maximizing shareholder value.” 

According to The Guardian, a fact sheet shared by Warren’s office pointed out that, in the 1980s, the largest corporations in the U.S. dedicated less than half of profits to shareholders, reinvesting the rest into the company.

But over the past decade, more and more profits have gone to shareholders rather than workers or long-term investments. During the same period, worker productivity has risen, with only modest increases in real wages for the median worker, while income and wealth inequality have massively increased.

Given that 93% of all stocks in the U.S. are owned by the wealthiest 10% of the population, with over 50% of all U.S. households owning no stock at all, Warren argues the corporate policy of maximizing shareholder value is predicated on “making the richest Americans even richer at all costs.”

The bill would mandate corporations with over $1 billion in annual revenue to obtain a federal charter as a “United States Corporation” under the obligation to consider the interests of all stakeholders. It would also mandate that at least 40% of a corporation’s board of directors be chosen directly by employees. All political expenditures by corporations would also have to be approved by at least 75% of shareholders and directors.

Warren first introduced the bill in 2018 to the U.S. Senate, with congressman Mark Pocan of Wisconsin introducing a companion bill in the House.

The bill faces tough opposition in Congress, especially with an incoming Republican administration. But business leaders have indicated a willingness to revert to a less profit-based approach. In 2019 the Business Roundtable, the U.S.’s lead business lobby, called for a redefinition of the purpose of a corporation away from a focus on shareholders to an “economy that serves all Americans.”