*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 CEO of ad cybersecurity firm CHEQ, Guy Tytunovich, told Cheddar that "fake news" is a "major, major problem" costing people control of their lives globally.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
While grassroots support is nothing new, the online nature of Yang supporters shows how outsider campaigns with less infrastructure leverage technology and online spaces to get noticed.
The surprise rejection of Amazon Web Service's bid on October 25 raised eyebrows because the company had appeared to be the frontrunner thanks to its extensive experience with cloud computing.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow made remarks that predict phase one of a trade deal with China is nearing completion, though the president has yet to signal his approval.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, November 15, 2019.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) told Cheddar that the Republican lead counsel, Stephen Castor, was tasked with an impossible job.
President Trump thanked Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a joint press conference for working closely with the U.S. on several Middle East issues while noting the "challenges" created by Turkey's purchasing of Russian military equipment.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified at the annual meeting of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and said policymakers are unlikely to cut rates again in the short-term.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and Ranking Member Devin Nunes laid out the competing narratives of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump Wednesday morning.
