"I support raising the minimum wage. I support indexing the minimum wage. I support increasing the minimum wage and getting to $15 an hour … I think we will get that done this year.”https://t.co/w9ZyYMFgOd

— The ReidOut (@thereidout) March 12, 2021

It looks as though Chris Coons agrees with Joe Manchin.

We also have to remember that we won’t see anything else that involves spending and appropriations for contractors until Fall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/12/sanders-amazon-union-bezos/?utm_source=reddit.com

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will bring the high-stakes labor battle against Amazon to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, when a union-supporting worker will testify before the Senate Budget Committee.

The hearing, which will focus on income inequality, will include testimony from Jennifer Bates, who trains employees at Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Ala. That’s the facility where 5,805 employees are in the middle of an election to decide whether they will be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

“What you are seeing right now in Bessemer is an example of the richest person in this country spending a whole lot of money to make it harder for ordinary working people to live with dignity and safety,” Sanders said in an interview with The Post.

Amazon has been trying to thwart unionization, even as Bezos saw his fortune climb $58 billion to $176.6 billion during the pandemic. It represents the growing chasm in income inequality that Sanders hopes the hearing will address.

“Bezos has become a symbol of the unfettered capitalism that we are living under right now, when the very, very rich are doing phenomenally well while ordinary working people are struggling to put food on the table,” Sanders said.

Bezos had not replied to the request to testify by Thursday afternoon, Sanders said.

Sanders, who has been a frequent Amazon critic, wants to put a spotlight on income inequality in the United States. Coming at a time when many other Americans are struggling, Bezos’s massive windfall over the past year makes him “the poster child,” Sanders said.

At the start of the pandemic, Sanders joined with three Democrat senators — Cory Booker (N.J.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Robert Menendez (N.J.) — to send Bezos a letter expressing concern that the company isn’t doing enough to protect its warehouse workers from the coronavirus outbreak.

Sanders has frequently denounced the company for paying subsistence wages to its warehouse staff. After that criticism, Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2018, though it caught heat for taking away some bonuses and stock grants for warehouse workers.

Amazon workers test positive for coronavirus at 10 U.S. warehouses
Sanders also criticized Amazon’s use of the federal tax code, saying during a 2019 presidential debate that 500,000 Americans “are sleeping out on the street and yet companies like Amazon that made billions in profits did not pay one nickel in federal income tax.”

Sanders has supported the Bessemer drive, sending pizza to workers at a rally last month. He believes the battle is a pivotal one for labor.

“If they can win, I think that will send a message to workers all over this country that if you are prepared to stand up and fight, you can win a union, you can win better wages and better working conditions,” Sanders said.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/12/total-hypocrisy-sanders-rips-gop-pushing-estate-tax-repeal-while-rejecting-covid

Sen. Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, called out Republican members of Congress on Thursday for demanding a permanent repeal of the estate tax—a move that would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Americans—while simultaneously rejecting the new coronavirus relief package as “partisan and wasteful.”

“While Senate Republicans told us we cannot afford to provide $1,400 direct payments to the working class,” the Vermont senator said, “they had no problem introducing a bill this week to repeal the estate tax which would provide a $1.7 trillion tax break to the billionaire class. Total hypocrisy!”

Led by Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.)—who drew widespread scorn last month for his absurd case against raising the federal minimum wage—Republican lawmakers from both chambers of Congress on Tuesday introduced dead-on-arrival legislation that would fulfill the GOP’s longstanding goal of permanently repealing the federal estate tax, a clear indication of their priorities as millions of U.S. households continue to face hunger, illness, joblessness, and eviction.

Half of the Senate Republican caucus, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), has signed on to the legislation. Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) is the lead sponsor of companion legislation in the House.

Contrary to the GOP’s depiction of the estate tax as a burden on small family farms and businesses, the tax only applies to a tiny fraction of some of the nation’s largest estates.

In a column on Wednesday, Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times wrote that “couching the estate tax repeal as a benefit for America’s valiant business and farm owners is a scam.”

“Repealing the estate tax would be a massive handout to rich families, enabling them to concentrate their wealth to an extent the Founding Fathers found inimical to society,” Hiltzik added. “When you see Republicans like [Idaho Sen. Mike] Crapo, Thune, and McConnell wringing their hands over the burden on small farms and family businesses, call it for what it is: hogwash.”

It's called the estate tax and repealing it would provide a $1.7 trillion tax break to the billionaire class and a https://t.co/yp8UhSS4Xt tax break to the bottom 99.99% of Americans. Not a single family farm owed an estate tax according to the latest data. Not a single one. https://t.co/sEpgcOi1vz

— Warren Gunnels (@GunnelsWarren) March 12, 2021

This week in Congress:

Dems: Passed $1.9T COVID package to deliver stimulus checks (w/ dependents!), cut child poverty in half, extend $300 UI, prevent cuts in state + local services, largest-ever investment in Native communities, etc

GOP: Took a week to read The Cat in the Hat

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 12, 2021

"Climate coverage as a whole still made up only 0.4% of overall coverage on corporate broadcast morning, nightly and Sunday morning news shows in 2020."

In case you're still wondering why there's no real change in sight… #FaceTheClimateEmergency https://t.co/GK5JWBgHCg

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) March 12, 2021

Over the past several months, it has become clear that Governor Cuomo is unfit to continue leading our state.

For the good of New York and everyone who calls it home, I urge Governor Cuomo to resign.

My full statement below ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/vCZSQCn9YF

— Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) March 12, 2021

The floodgates have opened

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/12/cuomo-ny-congress-democrats-resignations-475522

At least nine members of New York’s delegation to the House of Representatives on Friday called on embattled Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign, a dramatic escalation in the push to remove the governor from office amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

The list includes members from the more progressive wing of the New York delegation — such as Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Mondaire Jones and Jamaal Bowman — as well as Democratic stalwarts like Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerry Nadler, who led the first impeachment effort against former President Donald Trump.

Other New York Democrats calling for Cuomo to step down included Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Nydia Velazquez, Yvette Clarke and Grace Meng. All nine lawmakers released statements Friday morning within minutes of one another, suggesting a coordinated effort to push Cuomo out of office.

Jessica Bakenan

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/andrew-cuomo-sexual-harassment-albany-reporter.html

Andrew Cuomo’s hands had been on my body — on my arms, my shoulders, the small of my back, my waist — often enough by late 2014 that I didn’t want to go to the holiday party he was hosting for the Albany press corps at the executive mansion.

I was 25 years old and working as a statehouse reporter for what is now Politico New York. I had been on the Capitol beat for a couple years by then, but I was still among the youngest reporters in the press corps, and one of the few women in the group whose job it was to report on the governor’s every move. Everyone else was going, and some had been covering state government for decades. I thought if I skipped the event, I might miss out on some intangible opportunity to cement myself as a part of that community. I ignored my instincts and went anyway, walking over from the New York State Capitol Building with several colleagues.

Shortly after I arrived, news broke on my beat, and I had to return to the Capitol. I decided to thank the governor for inviting me and, more importantly, to offer my best wishes for his father’s recovery. Former governor Mario Cuomo was dying at the time.

I walked up to the governor, who was in the middle of a conversation with another reporter, and waited for a moment when I could interject. He took my hand, as if to shake it, then refused to let go. He put his other arm around my back, his hand on my waist, and held me firmly in place while indicating to a photographer he wanted us to pose for a picture.

My job was to analyze and scrutinize him. I didn’t want a photo of him with his hands on my body and a smile on my face. But I made the reflexive assessment that most women and marginalized people know instinctively, the calculation about risk and power and self-preservation. I knew it would be far easier to smile for the brief moment it takes to snap a picture than to challenge one of the most powerful men in the country.

But my calculation was a bit off. I was wrong to believe this experience would last for just a moment. Keeping his grip on me as I practically squirmed to get away from him, the governor turned my body to face a different direction for yet another picture. He never let go of my hand.

Then he turned to me with a mischievous smile on his face, in front of all of my colleagues, and said: “I’m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable? I thought we were going steady.”

I stood there in stunned silence, shocked and humiliated. But, of course, that was the point.

I never thought the governor wanted to have sex with me. It wasn’t about sex. It was about power. He wanted me to know that I was powerless, that I was small and weak, that I did not deserve what relative power I had: a platform to hold him accountable for his words and actions. He wanted me to know that he could take my dignity away at any moment with an inappropriate comment or a hand on my waist. (The Cuomo administration has declined to comment.)

It’s not that Cuomo spares men in his orbit from his trademark bullying and demeaning behavior. But the way he bullies and demeans women is different. He uses touching and sexual innuendo to stoke fear in us. That is the textbook definition of sexual harassment.

I'm calling on @POTUS to grant clemency to 100 women in his first 100 days.

Today, I joined @andreacjames, @RepCori & the National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women & Girls at Black Lives Matter Plaza in DC. #FREEHER pic.twitter.com/ze03XVO1ER

— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) March 12, 2021

AOC's statement, unlike Nadler's, mentions the nursing home scandal too alongside the allegations of harassment. https://t.co/4OY3tm3Izs

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) March 12, 2021

@NYCVG do you mind if I add “and OT” to the title of your post? Everyone, including myself, appear to be treating it as such.