*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).
Speaking at Georgetown University, Zuckerberg said he recognized that the U.S. and nations worldwide are facing concerning social tensions but warned against the impulse to restrict free speech online.
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Without mentioning President Donald Trump — by far the most high-profile and contentious leader on Twitter — the company added that tweets with a "clear public interest" would not be removed.
Retail sales for September came out Wednesday morning, showing the first decline in seven months. It was the first decline since February of this year.
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The Swamp Bus is the brainchild of the Progressive Change Institute and Revolving Door Project, a two-hour guided bus tour through Washington, DC to see the town's most blatant locations tied to corruption.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has topped several recent polls, found herself on the defense during the fourth Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night, as she was forced to defend a number of her progressive policy positions.
The former Republican Congressman from South Carolina so far hasn't pressed his former Capitol Hill colleagues to call for articles of impeachment. Rather, Sanford brought up the idea of "censure" instead.
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.
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