*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. residential solar market posted its biggest quarter on record in Q3 2019, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie Power and Renewables.
The House Judiciary Committee launched a lively, marathon session Thursday ahead of voting on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, a historic step as the deeply partisan panel prepares to send the charges to the full House.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced on Wednesday that interest rates will remain unchanged and could stay there for some time to come.
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage climate activist, is Time's 2019 Person of the Year. The 16-year-old is the youngest person to ever receive the honor
Google's 'Year in Search' report is out, and it shows what we've all been looking for in 2019.
The New York State Department of Financial Services has proposed new guidance for licensed cryptocurrency firms that would make it easier for them to add new coins to their offerings, Superintendent Linda Lacewell announced Wednesday.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, December 11, 2019.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, December 10, 2019.
House Democrats handed the president one of his biggest legislative victories, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to replace NAFTA, even as they announce articles of impeachment against him.
Stocks in the U.S. opened higher Tuesday, reversing pre-market losses after a report in the Wall Street Journal signified that American and Chinese negotiators were preparing to delay the next round of tariffs, scheduled to go into effect Sunday. The Journal cited sources close to the matter on both sides of the table.
