*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 settlement forces the Sackler family to give up control of the Stamford, Connecticut-based business, according to the Associated Press, while the company will pay up to $12 billion over time.
Assembly Bill 5, which the state Senate approved on Tuesday, would require employers to treat independent contractors — like Lyft and Uber drivers — as regular employees.
JPMorgan has developed a new index to track the impact that President Trump's tweets have on the market. The so-called Volfefe Index will specifically examine how the president's tweets affect U.S. Treasury yields.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, September 9, 2019.
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.
Powell's optimistic remarks come amid a growing concern by economists, investors, and business leaders that a slowing of the U.S. economy is imminent.
Despite the economy's sustained growth, the jobs added in August were less than the nearly 160,000 expected by analysts. Monthly employment growth so far this year now averages 158,000, which remains well below 223,000 average monthly gains in 2018.
British lawmakers are set to vote again Monday on whether or not to hold a general election next month as the UK continues to wrestle with the looming Brexit deadline.
Ten of the top Democratic candidates for president presented their plans to tackle climate change during a marathon, seven-hour town hall broadcast live on CNN Wednesday.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Thursday, September 5, 2019.
