*By Christian Smith*
Congressman Ro Khanna wants to inspire companies to do better by their workers.
"It's absurd that you have multi-billion dollar companies, trillion-dollar companies that aren't able to pay their workers $15," Rep. Khanna said Friday in an interview on Cheddar.
That's why the prominent House progressive, who represents California's Silicon Valley, is teaming up with ex-presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to introduce legislation that would place a tax on large corporations ー money that is equivalent to the amount of federal benefits their low-income employees receive to make a livable wage.
Rep. Khanna's House bill is called the "Corporate Responsibility and Taxpayer Protection Act" and targets large companies across industries, including tech, retail, and fast food, he said.
Sanders was a little more pointed with his version, dubbed the "Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act." That's Stop BEZOS, if you didn't notice.
Rep. Khanna said that Amazon has responded to the Sanders bill, saying the company creates safe working spaces for employees and offers competitive benefits. But the Congressman said the point of benefits is a separate matter.
"They're still not addressing the fundamental point," Khanna said.
"Why can't they just come out and say they're going to pay every employee in our company at least a $15 wage so they can have a livable wage?"
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/congressman-ro-khanna-wants-major-corporations-to-improve-worker-pay-or-pay-more-in-taxes).
California Governor Gavin Newsom is facing a recall election in about two weeks. Newsom was elected governor in 2018 with nearly 62% of the vote after working as lieutenant governor for eight years. However, his popularity took a hit after his handling of Covid-19 pandemic, although the White House is refusing to cite this as the direct reason for the September 14th recall election. There are 46 candidates running to be Newsom's replacement, and some are saying that California could end up electing a republican governor.
Jeremy White, California politics reporter and co-writer of daily California Playbook Newsletter at Politico, joined Cheddar Politics to discuss more about the election and its possible outcomes.
President Joe Biden says the United States will complete it's evacuation of Americans and others from Kabul, despite the attack that killed 12 U.S. service members and many Afghan civilians.
Crypto-enthusiasts are taking to social media to urge regular Afghans to adopt bitcoin in the face of considerable economic uncertainty.
The U.S. economy grew at a 6.6% annual rate last quarter, slightly faster than previously estimated, the government said Thursday in a report that pointed to a sustained consumer-led rebound from the pandemic recession.
The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant says it plans to build an undersea tunnel so that massive amounts of treated but still radioactive water can be released into the ocean about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) away from the plant to avoid interference with local fishing.
Two suicide bombers and gunmen have targeted crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport, in the waning days of a massive airlift that has drawn thousands of people seeking to flee the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose for the first time in five weeks even though the economy and job market have been recovering briskly from the coronavirus pandemic.
Secretary of State Blinken said Wednesday that as many as 1,500 Americans may be awaiting evacuation from Afghanistan.
Kathy Hochul became the first female governor of New York on Tuesday, vowing to bring new energy and urgency to solving immense challenges as she took over an administration criticized for inaction.
U.S military troops flying round the clock have managed their biggest day of airlifts out of Afghanistan by far.
