*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).
Since the 1970s, Iowa has been the home of the first caucus, but it hasn't always selected the eventual nominees for each political party.
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The Senate approved a resolution that will allow a final impeachment vote on Wednesday, after both the Iowa caucuses and the State of the Union address.
Senators voted against calling more witnesses today, after Senator Mitch McConnell called a quorum call, during which McConnell and his Democratic counterpart Chuck Schumer were seen huddling on the floor of the senate, likely discussing how to proceed.
Senators will get four hours of debate Friday before voting on whether to call witnesses and introduce documents — a vote expected to fail.
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While the sitting president faces charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, his two predecessors are also facing a reckoning in the Guantánamo Bay military tribunal. President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial and the Guantánamo Bay tribunal both hinge in large part on the same unresolved issue: how much information can the executive withhold in the name of national security?
Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told reporters during the break that Republicans have the ”momentum” to move to end the trial tomorrow without witnesses.
Lead House Manager Adam Schiff in Trump's impeachment trial brought a little incredulous humor into the proceedings when he pointed out the Justice Department's contradictory position on subpoenas being presented in federal court on the same day.
The Committee met twice last week but held off making the designation that allows the organization to ramp up the international response to the coronavirus.
