Bernie Sanders intros ‘Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (BEZOS)’ bill

Bernie Sanders has never been one to mince words — and the past couple of weeks have found the independent senator from Vermont going toe to toe with some of the world’s largest and wealthiest companies. As promised, the 2016 presidential candidate introduced a bill aimed at ending what he’s deemed “corporate welfare.”

Along with Congress member Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Sanders has just introduced legislation titled Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (BEZOS). The senator held a press conference today in Washington, introducing the bill aimed at what he deemed “the great economic crisis in America today.”

“Despite low unemployment, we end up having tens of millions of Americans working at wages that are just so low that they can’t adequately take care of their family,” Sanders told the audience. “And today, we have the three wealthiest people in America who own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent.

The bill is designed to create a “100 percent tax on corporations with 500 or more employees equal to the amount of federal benefits received by their low-wage workers.”

As the name and much of Sanders’ recent rhetoric has suggested, he’s taking particular aim at Amazon head, Jeff Bezos.

“Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is the wealthiest person on Earth, and since the beginning of this year, his wealth has increased by about $260 million every day,” Sanders’ office wrote in a release. “Meanwhile, thousands of Amazon workers rely on food stamps because their wages are so low.”

For its part, Amazon called Sanders’ earlier statements “inaccurate and misleading,” adding, “While Senator Sanders plays politics and makes misleading accusations, we are expending real money and effort upskilling people with our Career Choice program.”

We’ve reached out to Amazon for comment on the legislation.

from www.tech-life.in