Technology

Have you ever found yourself repeating the words “speak to a human please” while on the phone with customer service? If so, you’re among the roughly 70% of Americans who find interacting with automated phone systems, versus human customer support representatives, frustrating. 

That’s in part why Senator Ruben Gallego wants to ensure that consumers who find themselves on the phone with a customer service agent are in fact speaking to a human, and one who is in the U.S., if that’s their preference. He’s also well aware of the threat artificial intelligence poses to American workers, and is committed to protecting the roughly three million Americans who work in call centers across the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

A new bipartisan bill, called the “Keep Call Centers in America Act of 2025,” introduced by Sen. Gallego and Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia on Wednesday, proposes to ensure such jobs remain in the U.S. by limiting federal benefits for companies who ship them overseas. 

What does the bill require of companies?

The bill would require businesses that decide to ship call centers overseas to notify the Department of Labor at least 120 days before making such a move. It would also direct the DOL to maintain a public list of employers that have relocated call center work overseas. Under the bill, employers would remain on the list for five years, absent efforts to return call center jobs to the U.S.

Companies on such a list would be ineligible for new federal grants and federal guaranteed loans, under the proposed bill, while nonlisted companies would be given preference for federal contracts. Additionally, the DOL would be required to track any call center job losses related to AI. 

How would it protect consumers?

To protect consumers, the bill would mandate that call center workers immediately disclose their physical locations to callers, and disclose whether AI is being used. Also, customers would be able to request to be transferred to a U.S.-based call center, if they so desired, under the proposed piece of legislation. 

“People want to have the option of speaking to a human or AI. This isn’t new —who hasn’t pressed zero repeatedly to try to skip the automated systems because they want to talk to a human? This is a consumer check people want to see,” Sen. Gallego told CBS MoneyWatch. 

In addition to supporting domestic jobs, keeping call center work in the U.S. helps safeguard American consumers’ data, he said. 

“We are concerned about what it means for American consumers if they’re not talking to a human based in the U.S., when it comes to security around their private information,” Sen. Gallego said. 

On the topic of AI taking over work currently performed by humans, Gallego acknowledged that the technology will inevitably bring about some job displacement. 

“There will be changes and AI will cause some unemployment,” he said. “We can’t stop it entirely.”

The senator added that he is not completely opposed to AI taking over some customer service work, either. “If someone has a really good experience with an AI bot, there won’t be a problem as long as that person knows they’re talking to AI versus to a human,” Gallego said. 

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) endorsed the proposed bill. 

“This much-needed legislation protects U.S. call center jobs and addresses the growing threats posed by artificial intelligence and offshoring,” (CWA) Director of Government Affairs, Dan Mauer said in a statement. “Historically, companies have offshored customer service jobs to avoid paying good union wages and benefits. Now companies are using AI to de-skill and speed up work and displace jobs, which undermines worker rights and degrades service quality for consumers.”