*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).
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, March 2, 2020.
Democrat Pete Buttigieg is ending his campaign for president, the Associated Press is reporting.
Joe Biden scored a convincing victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary on Saturday, riding a wave of African American support and ending progressive rival Bernie Sanders’ winning streak.
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.
Stocks sank again after another wild day, extending a rout that left the market with its worst week since October 2008. Major indexes clawed back much of their intraday losses in the last 15 minutes. Bond prices soared as investors sought safety, pushing yields to record lows.
The World Health Organization raised its threat assessment Friday saying the global risk of the novel COVID-19 is now "very high," the director-general told reporters, even as the White House continues to downplay the potential impact of the coronavirus in the U.S.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pledged that the Fed will "use our tools" to support the economy, a strong signal of a likely rate cut, perhaps at its next meeting March 17-18.
The report from China Beige Book, an economic forecasting firm that surveyed more than 1,400 companies, shows an economy reeling from shutdowns and quarantines.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, February 28, 2020.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank nearly 1,200 points Thursday, deepening a weeklong global market rout caused by worries that the coronavirus outbreak will wreak havoc on the global economy.
