Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Bernie Sanders Intros New Stop BEZOS Bill

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are taking aim at Amazon and its billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, with new legislation that they say will force the likes of Amazon and Walmart to pay workers a living wage. In an announcement in Washington this morning, Sen. Sanders and Rep. Khanna said they are introducing the "Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies" (BEZOS) bill, explaining that the legislation would force companies like Amazon to pay workers a living wage or pay for the public assistance programs like Medicaid, food stamps and public housing that Amazon's workers are needing to use. Sanders said that Bezos is the "wealthiest person on earth" worth around $168 billion, yet he "continues to pay thousands of his employees wages so low, that they must rely on food stamps, Medicaid, or subsidized housing, in order to survive." Amazon, has a widespread of range of operations across Southern California, including major "fulfillment centers" in the Inland Empire. Those warehouse operations have been the subject of allegations of on low wages and lack of benefits.