California Democrat Targets ‘Low-Wage’ Small Businesses That Don’t Pay $15/Hour
Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna told CNN that he doesn’t want “low-wage” small businesses.
When Khanna was asked if mom and pop shops should be forced to pay a $15 minimum wage, he boasted that they should be. “I think most successful small businesses can pay a fair wage,” he argued.
CNN’s Abby Phillip pressed Khanna. “Well, of course, large businesses like Amazon and McDonald’s, for example, can and perhaps should pay more, but I’m wondering what is your plan for smaller businesses?” She asked, “How does this, in your view, affect mom and pop businesses who are just struggling to keep their doors open, keep workers on the payroll right now?”
“Well, they shouldn’t be doing it by paying people low wages,” Khanna replied.
He continued to claim that he loved small businesses.
“If you look at the minimum wage it increased with worker productivity until 1968 and that relationship was severed. If workers were actually getting paid for the value they were creating it would be up to $23,” he claimed. “I love small businesses. I’m all for it. But I don’t want small businesses that are underpaying employees. It’s fair for people to be making what they’re producing and I think $15 is very reasonable in this country.”
In the same interview, Khanna slammed Texas utility company ERCOT for the current Texas cold weather disaster.
“Why did they not weatherize their equipment?” Khanna said. “Why did they not take appropriate regulatory action? Texas has had an attitude of we don’t need to invest in the weatherization, we’re just going to allow deregulation. Why were those decisions made?”