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Senator Bernie Sanders' proposed bill to attack Amazon and other large corporations remains stuck in the limbo of Congress.
The bill has not been presented to any committee nor auditioned. But Amazon's announcement on Tuesday that the company would raise its minimum wage for all workers to 15 dollars by the hour means that Sanders has already won.
The Sanders Bill, as well as the accompanying version presented by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, would impose an additional tax on businesses whose workers use public aid as vouchers. The goal is to require employers to pay their employees enough so that they no longer need public programs.
Sanders' Bill, called Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act or, using an acronym, Stop Bezos Act, was aimed directly at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the target of the long campaign led by the Senator against the bad working conditions in the trade centers of realization of the giant.
While Sanders and Khanna were both arguing to introduce the bill, no bill would necessarily become law. Instead, they have been designed to draw attention to Amazon and put pressure on society for it to increase workers' wages.
This issue sparked debate among columnists, think tanks, economists and policymakers, highlighting Sanders' fight for better working conditions at Amazon.
Message bills are not uncommon. Since 2005, only 2% to 4% of bills introduced in Congress in a given year have become law. Since 1974, the 100th Congress – which was held from 1987 to 1988 – has reached the water mark for the bills introduced which have finally been passed at 7%.
Most of these bills do not cost anything. For example, the Alabama representative, Mike Rogers, has introduced in each of the last 20 years a bill to remove the United States from the United Nations and any affiliated group.
Even higher-level message bills produce few significant results. The train of bills to repeal Obamacare passed by Congress held by the GOP while President Barack Obama was in power sent a strong message. But when the time came to repeal and replace the health care law under President Donald Trump, the Republicans hesitated.
In contrast, Amazon indirectly quoted the Sanders bill and the resulting public relations push as reasons for Tuesday's announcement. Bezos even replied to Sanders on Twitter after the senator congratulated the move of the company.
"Thank you @SenSanders," said Bezos. "We are excited about this and hope others will participate."
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