*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).
The U.S. House of Representatives made history on Friday, after voting to pass a sweeping cannabis decriminalization and social equity bill.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler debated her Democratic opponent, Rev. Raphael Warnock, Sunday night, while challenger Jon Ossoff debated an empty podium when incumbent Sen. David Perdue refused to debate ahead of the January Senate runoffs in Georgia.
Joe LaVorgna, the chief economist for the White House National Economic Council, talked to Cheddar about the economy and the recently released jobs report'.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Biden stopped just short Thursday of the nationwide mandate he’s pushed before to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Three former presidents say they’d be willing to publicly take a coronavirus vaccine, once one becomes available, to encourage all Americans to get inoculated against a disease that has already killed more than 273,000 people nationwide.
The U.S. has recorded over 3,100 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, obliterating the record set last spring.
The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed the nomination of Christopher Waller for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, placing another of President Donald Trump’s picks on the Fed’s influential board after a string of high-profile rejections.
IBM security researchers say they have detected a cyberespionage effort that used targeted phishing emails to try to collect vital information associated with a U.N. initiative for distributing coronavirus vaccine to developing countries.
President-elect Joe Biden has swung behind a bipartisan COVID-19 relief effort. That comes as his top Capitol Hill allies cut their demands for a $2 trillion-plus measure by more than half.
