Nakba refers to the “catastrophe” and recognizes when Palestinians were displaced from their homes beginning in 1948 with the establishment of the State of Israel.
Shapiro responded to a tweet about Sanders by calling the senator’s Jewishness into question: “Bernie Sanders is approximately as Jewish as a ham sandwich topped with shrimp on lard bread.”
Twitter responded by adding context to Shapiro’s tweet:
“Sen. Sanders grew up in Brooklyn, a son of Jewish immigrants. His father, Elias, emigrated from Poland in 1921 at 17. Sen. Sanders learned during an appearance on the PBS show Finding Your Roots that he had family killed during the Holocaust.”
Sanders’ father’s brother Abraham was shot and killed by Nazis in 1942 after he refused to turn people over to be executed, as the senator learned on “Finding Your Roots.”
Twitter users had some thoughts about Shapiro’s comment.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Tuesday that he would forgo another presidential bid of his own and instead endorse President Joe Biden’s reelection.
“The last thing this country needs is a Donald Trump or some other right-wing demagogue who is going to try to undermine American democracy or take away a woman’s right to choose, or not address the crisis of gun violence, or racism, sexism or homophobia,” Sanders said in an interview. “So, I’m in to do what I can to make sure that the president is reelected.”
For much of the year, Sanders had left open the possibility of running again himself. On Tuesday, he said that he would not run and he discouraged any another high-profile progressive candidates from doing so either.
His decision suggests that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party will ultimately unify behind Biden’s 2024 bid, even if progressives aren’t excited about him.
“People will do what they want to do,” Sanders said of other potential primary challenges. “I think Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee. And my job, and I think the progressive movement’s job, is to make certain that he stands up and fights for the working class of this country and does not take anything for granted.”
Sanders’ decision also signals that, at 81 years old, he will never again seek the presidency.
The silver-haired democratic socialist with the thick Brooklyn accent emerged as a leading progressive voice in the 2016 presidential contest and was in position to secure the presidential nomination in 2020 before his rivals unified behind Biden’s candidacy.
In forgoing another presidential bid of his own, Sanders said he would continue to fight for progressive policies as chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in addition to helping form new labor unions.
“Running for president was a wonderful privilege,” Sanders said. “I enjoyed it very much and I hope we had some impact on the nature of American politics. But right now, my job is to do what I can as chairman of the (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) committee, to see Biden gets reelected and to see what I can do to help transform policy in America to help protect the needs of workers.”
He said it was too early to say what specific role he would play in helping Biden win reelection in 2024.
Democrats appear divided on whether Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) should resign given her lengthy absence from the Senate that could prove to be a challenge for President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda amid the party’s narrow majority in the chamber.
Feinstein, 89, who is recovering at home in San Francisco after being hospitalized with a case of shingles, last week asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to appoint a replacement for her on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee after many of her colleagues voiced concern that her absence could stand in the way of confirming Biden’s judicial nominees.
However, the move would require GOP approval, and it’s still unclear whether Republicans would be prepared to grant the request.
In the meantime, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), one of the first Democrats to ask for Feinstein’s resignation, on Sunday said his calls for her to step aside come out of respect for the American people who expect their officials who seek elected office to be up to the task.
“If you’re gonna sign up to do these jobs, show up,” Khanna told “Fox News Sunday.”
Feinstein has so far missed 60 votes this year.
Khanna also drew a contrast between the cases of Feinstein and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who recently left a hospital after spending six weeks getting inpatient treatment for clinical depression and is expected to return to the Senate this week. Fetterman suffered a stroke while he was campaigning last year.
“It’s one thing to take medical leave and come back, it’s another thing when you’re just not doing the job,” Khanna said, adding that Feinstein has not clarified when she would be in a position to return to Washington.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said while she takes Feinstein at her word that she plans to return to Washington, Democrats have many crucial votes coming up, including on the debt ceiling, that would require the California senator’s presence.
Democrats have a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, while Republicans control the House of Representatives.
“If this goes on month after month after month, then she’s going to have to make a decision with her family and her friends about what her future holds because this isn’t just about California, it’s also about the nation,” Klobuchar told ABC’s “This Week.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) says “this isn’t just about California, it’s also about the nation” when asked whether Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) should resign.
Klobuchar emphasizes it’s Feinstein’s “decision with her family” but highlights importance of her vote on debt ceiling, et al. pic.twitter.com/wMOEzXzcUs
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with Democrats, said Feinstein should be the one to determine her future in the position.
“The decision about whether somebody should resign, rests on that individual themselves,” Sanders told MSNBC’s “Inside With Jen Psaki” Sunday. “I don’t think she should be forced out.”
“The decision about whether somebody should resign, rests on that individual themselves. I don’t think she should be forced out.” @SenSanders on calls for Senator Feinstein to resign. pic.twitter.com/JKZxHizAex
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) April 16, 2023
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) went a step further than Sanders, describing the calls for Feinstein to leave the Senate as sexist and politically motivated.
“I’ve never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way,” Pelosi said.
The questions around Feinstein also appear to pose a challenge for California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who would be the one to appoint her replacement should Feinstein resign.
Feinstein’s current term ends in January 2025. She is not seeking reelection.
Starbucks has fired a Buffalo, New York, worker who “ignited a movement” from one of the first stores in the coffee chain to unionize, Starbucks Workers United said Friday.
The firing came the same week that former CEO Howard Schultz testified before Congress, where he was grilled by lawmakers for the company’s labor practices and alleged union-busting.
Alexis Rizzo had been shift supervisor at the Genesee Street store in Buffalo for 7 years, the union said. That store was one of the first of two locations to officially win their union campaigns in January 2022 after the federal labor board certified its results. Rizzo was the worker who first contacted the union.
“This is retaliation at its worst,” a statement from Starbucks Workers United said. The union noted two other employees were fired and a union leader was written up.
CNN is still seeking comment from Starbucks and Rizzo.
“Instead of negotiating a first union contract as required by law, Starbucks has chosen to double down on its illegal union-busting by firing Alexis Rizzo,” Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted Friday night, saying Rizzo “must be reinstated.”
“Over the past 18 months, Starbucks has waged the most aggressive and illegal union-busting campaign in the modern history of our country,” said Sanders.
Schultz noted during the hearing that the company’s baristas earn an average of $17.50 an hour, which is more than the minimum wage in multiple states, “including, respectfully Chairman Sanders’ [state],” referring to Vermont.
The three-time CEO asserted he prefers the company to have a direct relationship with its employees instead of going through a union, denying the company violated labor laws or that he was a union buster.
Nearly 300 locations have voted to join Starbucks Workers United. National Labor Relations Board judges found Starbucks has committed 130 labor violations and the agency has issued more than 70 official complaints against it. Starbucks has filed its own series of complaints against the union, and in his testimony before Congress, Schultz said the company considers these claims “allegations,” not findings of fact.
Starbucks and the union have yet to sign a contract.
“What is outrageous to me is not only Starbucks’ anti-union activities and their willingness to break the law, it is their calculated and intentional efforts to stall, stall and stall,” Sanders said during the hearing.
In a statement, the union said, “Starbucks can fire our leaders, but they cannot stop our movement or stop the public from seeing the truth.”
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma told a witness to “shut your mouth” during a heated exchange at a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
The witness, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Sean O’Brien, went toe-to-toe with Mullin at the hearing before the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee. The panel’s chairman, Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, had to intervene multiple times to get the questioning back on track.
“I want to make it very clear. I’m not against unions. I’m not at all. Some of my very good friends work for unions, they work hard, and they do a good job,” Mullin said. “Please don’t make an assumption that I’m anti-union, but I also want to set the record straight.”
Mullin then criticized the panel for not discussing allegations of unions intimidating workers who do not want to join their organizations, and pointed to his own experience where he alleges unions tried to intimidate him and his employees.
“I’m not afraid of physical confrontation, in fact sometimes I look forward to it. That’s not my problem,” he said. Mullin is a former mixed martial arts fighter.
He asked O’Brien his salary. “Well, I’m glad you asked that question,” began O’Brien, before Mullin cut him off by reading off his 2019 annual income. O’Brien and Mullin went back and forth on what UPS drivers make, with O’Brien saying Mullin’s numbers were “inaccurate.”
O’Brien told Mullin that his line of questioning was “out of line,” at which point Mullin replied, “Sir, you need to shut your mouth.”
“You’re gonna tell me to shut my mouth?” O’Brien fired back. “Tough guy. ‘I’m not afraid of physical confrontation.’”
Sanders banged his gavel and told Mullin to let O’Brien answer the questions.
“It was rhetorical,” Mullin said.
“You ask a question, he has a right to answer that,” Sanders told him.
Sanders repeatedly had to stop the witness and senator from criticizing each other, as Mullin said this was showing how union leaders behave.
“No, this shows your behavior,” Sanders ordered. “Stay on the issue, please.”
Mullin’s time expired without O’Brien answering another question.
Washington — Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has agreed to testify to a Senate committee investigating the company’s labor practices ahead of a vote to subpoena him, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday.
Democrats on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which Sanders chairs, invited Schultz to testify about the company’s compliance with federal labor laws in a Feb. 7 letter, noting that Starbucks has pushed back against its employees unionization efforts. The Senate panel was set to vote Wednesday to subpoena Schultz if he did not willingly agree to testify.
“In America, workers have the constitutional right to organize unions and engage in collective bargaining to improve their wages and working conditions. Unfortunately Starbucks, under Mr. Schultz’s leadership, has done everything possible to prevent that from happening,” Sanders, an independent from Vermont, said in a news release announcing Schultz’s March 29 appearance before the committee.
The National Labor Relations Board has filed more than 80 complaints against Starbucks for violating federal labor laws, Sanders said, accusing the company of refusing to negotiate in good faith with workers in more than 280 Starbucks stores who have voted to unionize.
“I look forward to hearing from Mr. Schultz as to when he intends to end his illegal anti-union activities and begin signing fair first contracts with the unions,” Sanders said.
Last week, Starbucks called the threat a “disappointing development” but said it was “optimistic that we’ll come to an appropriate resolution.” In its response to the committee’s initial invitation, the company said Schultz was not the right person to testify, noting that he would be transitioning out of the role of CEO in March. It offered to make another executive available instead.
Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Wednesday that he plans to hold a vote among his colleagues to determine whether Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz should be subpoenaed to testify before a Senate committee.
The Vermont independent has been hammering the Starbucks co-founder over the company’s anti-union campaign against Workers United, a union that has organized nearly 300 of the chain’s stores. Now, Sanders says Schultz should be compelled to testify before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which Sanders chairs.
“Unfortunately, Howard Schultz has given us no choice, but to subpoena him,” Sanders said on Twitter. “A multi-billion dollar corporation like Starbucks cannot continue to break federal labor law with impunity. The time has come to hold Starbucks and Mr. Schultz accountable.”
Sanders’ office said in a press release that the committee will hold the vote next Wednesday. Democrats hold a slim majority in the committee and the Senate at large.
Sanders said the subpoena would be related to Starbucks’ “lack of compliance with federal labor law.” He also said he hoped to “authorize a committee investigation into major corporations’ labor law violations.”
Workers United has encountered aggressive pushback from the coffee chain as the union has tried to organize stores from coast to coast since 2021. The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board has issued dozens of complaints against the Seattle-based company, alleging it illegally fired workers, closed stores, and threatened to withhold raises and benefits so that employees wouldn’t unionize.
Sen. Bernie Sanders wants Howard Schultz (above) to testify before his committee.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Sanders sent a letter to Starbucks last month requesting that Schultz testify before his committee, but the company responded with a letter saying the CEO did not intend to do so. They recommended that a different executive, A.J. Jones II, appear in his place. Schultz plans to step down from his role atop the company in March.
“Given the timing of the transition, his relinquishment of any operating role in the company going forward and what we understand to be the subject of the hearing, we believe another senior leader with ongoing responsibilities is best suited to address these matters,” Starbucks general counsel Zabrina Jenkins wrote to Sanders.
Schultz is the face of Starbucks and has been deeply involved in the campaign against the union, making direct appeals to workers. The labor board’s general counsel has accused Schultz himself of violating the law amid the campaign. In a sign of how contentious the campaign has been, the union’s lead organizer has called Schultz “the Al Capone of union-busters.”
After Starbucks rebuffed the senator’s request that Schultz appear before the committee, Sanders called the response “disappointing, but not surprising.”
“Apparently, it is easier for Mr. Schultz to fire workers who are exercising their constitutional right to form unions, and to intimidate others who may be interested in joining a union than to answer questions from elected officials,” Sanders said.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders took aim at pharmaceutical companies on Sunday over upcoming price hikes for COVID-19 vaccines and high prescription drug prices more broadly, telling “Face the Nation” that he believes there is room for bipartisanship to bring down costs for working class Americans.
The independent senator recently called on Moderna’s chief executive officer Stéphane Bancel to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which he chairs. Sanders called the hearing after the company suggested it would quadruple the price of COVID-19 vaccines once the shots transition to the private market.
On Sunday, Sanders noted that U.S. gave Moderna billions of dollars to develop its vaccine. U.S. officials have said stockpiles of government-bought vaccines could run out by this summer.
“What happens after the government stockpile of the vaccine expires? These guys say, we’re going to quadruple the price of the vaccine,” Sanders said. “Truth is, [the] pharmaceutical industry is enormously greedy, charging us outrageously, uncontrollably high prices. We’ve got to deal with that, as chairman of the relevant committee, I intend to do what I can.”
Last week, Bancel agreed to testify before the Senate HELP committee during a hearing in March. One day later, Moderna said it would develop a program to ensure that uninsured and underinsured people can receive the vaccines at no cost. The vaccines will also remain free to those with insurance, as required by the Affordable Care Act. Pfizer and BioNTech have also confirmed their plans to hike vaccine prices to at least $110 per dose, which is more than triple the cost per shot that the Biden administration paid for a bulk purchase of COVID-19 boosters in the summer of 2022.
Sanders said on Sunday that members of the HELP committee “want to take a look at” Moderna’s patient assistance program and called it “a step in the right direction.” Still, he underscored the need for decisive action in Congress as pharmaceutical companies continue to initiate price hikes that often make health care and prescription medications unaffordable and inaccessible.
The senator, whose upcoming book “It’s OK to Be Angry about Capitalism” examines the growing divide between the wealthy and the working class, noted that “one out of four people in American cannot afford … the drugs that their doctors prescribe,” while roughly two-thirds are living paycheck to paycheck. Sanders additionally pointed to stark disparities in cost for the same medications in countries with public health systems, like Canada, compared with the U.S.
“You tell me why we pay 10 times more for some drugs that are sold in the United States compared to say to Canada or to other countries, while year after year, the pharmaceutical industry makes tens of billions of dollars in profits, pays their CEOs exorbitant salaries,” Sanders said.
“So of course, we want the drug companies to do the research and development,” he continued. “By the way, taxpayers of this country spent $45 billion a year through the NIH to help with that research and development, including Moderna and the vaccine.”
When asked if he sees avenues for bipartisan agreement on prescription drug costs in Congress, Sanders responded, “Yes, I do.”
He cited polling of Republicans that showed high prescription drug costs were “a major priority they were concerned with,” and said he believes laws like the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as legislative proposals, can form “the basis for bipartisan work.” The Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden signed into law in August of last year, reformed how Medicare sets drug prices. Advocates have said it could act as a guide and predecessor for further, broader legislation regulating the cost of prescription drugs.
“So I think we have the basis for bipartisan work, to tell the pharmaceutical industry that they really have got to stop ripping off the American people. A number of ways you could do it,” Sanders said on Sunday. “The Inflation Reduction Act started by having Medicare negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical industry. Doesn’t kick in for a few years, I think we should expedite that.
“Number two, of all people, my good friend, Donald Trump, all right, who I disagree with on everything, had the idea that maybe Medicare should not pay prices higher than the average of what countries around the rest of the world are paying. That’s a good idea and we want to pursue that as well,” he continued. “And there’s the concept of reimportation. … That simply says if you can buy a drug in Canada, same drug but one-tenth of the price, passes FDA specifications, it should be sold in this country at a lower price.
Watch the full version of an interview with Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that aired on Feb. 19, 2023, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
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Starbucks informed the staff of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday that outgoing chief executive Howard Schultz does not intend to testify at the senator’s hearing on the coffee chain’s fight with its workers’ union.
Sanders, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, had sent a letter to the coffee chain on Feb. 7 asking that Schultz appear on Capitol Hill next month. But in a response Tuesday night, Starbucks offered instead to send another executive, A.J. Jones II, a vice president and top spokesperson.
Schultz has been serving as interim CEO and plans to step down in April.
“Given the timing of the transition, his relinquishment of any operating role in the company going forward and what we understand to be the subject of the hearing, we believe another senior leader with ongoing responsibilities is best suited to address these matters,” Starbucks general counsel Zabrina Jenkins wrote to Sanders.
Schultz is a co-founder of the famous coffee chain and its most recognizable face. He has been deeply involved in the company’s battle with Starbucks Workers United, the labor campaign that has unionized nearly 300 stores since late 2021.
“Schultz has been personally named in some of the complaints filed by the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel accusing the company of illegal suppressing the organizing effort.”
Schultz has been personally named in some of the complaints filed by the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel accusing the company of illegal suppressing the organizing effort. The campaign’s lead organizer has taken to calling Schultz “the Al Capone of union-busting.”
Sanders, a close ally of organized labor, has publicly hammered Schultz over the company’s aggressive response to the campaign. He had informed the company he wanted Schultz to answer questions related to “decisions with respect to complying with our nation’s labor laws and negotiating a first contract with union workers at Starbucks.”
Howard Schultz is expected to step down as Starbucks CEO in April.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
The general counsel has issued 75 complaints against Starbucks alleging management illegally fired union supporters, shut down stores that were organizing, and threatened to withhold pay hikes and other benefits to prevent workers from unionizing. Most of those cases are now being litigated.
Last week, Sanders told The Associated Press that he would consider using the committee’s subpoena power if Schultz declined his invitation.
“This is corporate greed,” Sanders said, according to the AP. “Workers have a constitutional right to organize. And even if you are a large, multinational corporation owned by a billionaire you don’t have the right to violate the law. And we intend to be asking Mr. Schultz some very hard questions.”
In its letter to Sanders, Starbucks called itself “a model employer and the categorical leader across industries for its comprehensive compensation.” It said Jones was especially qualified to testify before the committee having previously worked in Congress and served as policy director for Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.), the former Democratic whip.
WASHINGTON — ABC’s “This Week” — White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby; Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.; NASA Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche.
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NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
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CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Fiona Hill, a former Russia adviser in the Trump White House; Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
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CNN’s “State of the Union” — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Roger Carstens, special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.
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“Fox News Sunday” — Kirby; former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Washington — Congress is moving swiftly to prevent a looming U.S. rail workers strike, reluctantly intervening in a labor dispute to stop what would surely be a devastating blow to the nation’s economy if the transportation of fuel, food and other critical goods were disrupted.
The House is voting on Wednesday after President Biden asked Congress to step in. The bill lawmakers are considering would impose a compromise labor agreement brokered by his administration that was ultimately voted down by four of the 12 unions representing more than 100,000 employees at large freight rail carriers. The unions have threatened to strike if an agreement can’t be reached before a Dec. 9 deadline. They are also considering a separate measure to provide workers with paid sick days.
Lawmakers from both parties expressed reservations, but the intervention was particularly difficult for some Democratic lawmakers who have traditionally sought to align themselves with the politically powerful labor unions.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, announced that he would object to fast-tracking the president’s proposal until he can get a roll-call vote on the amendment that would guarantee seven paid sick days for rail workers. Some of the more liberal lawmakers in the House such as Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri tweeted that they couldn’t support the measure.
And a handful of Senate Republicans have expressed their opposition to Congress intervening.
“I’m not going to vote to impose this on them against their will with the force of law,” said Sen. Josh Hawley on Wednesday.
Still, the bill is expected to receive a significant bipartisan vote. That show of support began when the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate met with Mr. Biden on Tuesday at the White House.
“We all agreed that we should try to avoid this rail shutdown as soon as possible,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday as he returned to the Capitol.
A letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Democratic colleagues promised two votes, reflecting the consternation she was hearing from members. The first vote will be on adopting the tentative labor agreement. The second will be on a measure to add seven days of paid sick leave for railroaders to the agreement.
“It is with great reluctance that we must now move to bypass the standard ratification process for the Tentative Agreement,” Pelosi wrote. “However, we must act to prevent a catastrophic strike that would touch the lives of nearly every family: erasing hundreds of thousands of jobs, including union jobs; keeping food and medicine off the shelves; and stopping small businesses from getting their goods to market.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer address the media after a meeting about avoiding a railroad worker strike with President Biden at the White House on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
The compromise agreement that was supported by the railroads and a majority of the unions provides for 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses retroactive to 2020 along with one additional paid leave day. The raises would be the biggest rail workers have received in more than four decades. Workers would have to pay a larger share of their health insurance costs, but their premiums would be capped at 15% of the total cost of the insurance plan. But the agreement didn’t resolve workers’ concerns about demanding schedules that make it hard to take a day off and the lack of paid sick time.
Lawmakers from both parties grumbled about stepping into the dispute, but they also said they had little choice.
“The bottom line is we are now forced with this kind of terrible situation where we have to choose between an imperfect deal that has already been negotiated or an economic catastrophe,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts.
“This is about whether we shut down the railroads of America, which will have extreme negative effects on our economy,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in the House. “We should have a bipartisan vote.”
Republicans needled the Biden administration and Democrats for Congress being asked to step in now to avert an economic crisis. But many indicated they were ready to do so.
“This has got to be tough for Democrats in that they generally kowtow to unions,” said GOP Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana.
“At this late hour, it’s clear that there is little we can do other than to support the measure,” said Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma.
Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Farm Bureau Federation said earlier this week in a letter to congressional leaders they must be prepared to intervene and that a stoppage of rail service for any duration would represent a $2 billion per day hit to the economy.
On several past occasions, Congress has intervened in labor disputes by enacting legislation to delay or prohibit railway and airline strikes.
Railroad unions on Tuesday decried Mr. Biden’s call for Congress to intervene in their contract dispute, saying it undercuts their efforts to address workers’ quality-of-life concerns.
Conductor Gabe Christenson, who is co-chairman of the Railroad Workers United coalition that includes workers from all the rail unions, said Mr. Biden and the Democrats are siding with the railroads over workers.
“The ‘most labor-friendly president in history’ has proven that he and the Democratic Party are not the friends of labor they have touted themselves to be,” Christenson said.
Senator Bernie Sanders is urging Democrats to campaign on more than abortion rights. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump spent the weekend campaigning in Nevada and Arizona, two states that could impact the balance of power in the Senate. CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa, chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett and CBS News politics reporter Musadiq Bidar join “Red and Blue” with the latest.
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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday brushed aside concerns about President Joe Biden’s age following the president’s reelection bid announcement, saying “Age is one thing. I think experience is another.”
The independent senator, who, at 81, is a year older than Biden, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” that “if you believe in democracy – you want to see more people vote, not fewer people vote, I think the choice is pretty clear. And that choice is Biden.”
Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats in the Senate, endorsed Biden’s reelection bid last week, and the president is likely to enjoy an easy path to the 2024 Democratic nomination. Author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are challenging him in the primary, but no major Democratic candidates are expected to join them.
But at 80, Biden is the nation’s oldest president. Polls have consistently reflected concern about his age, even among Democrats.
Although there are clear moments when Biden is visibly slower physically than he was, dozens of aides, administration officials and members of Congress who’ve spent time with him have relayed stories to CNN about how thorough and demanding he is in meeting after meeting.
Sanders, who is up for reelection 2024 but has yet to detail his plans, said Sunday that the key for Democrats to hold the White House rests in a stronger focus on “working-class issues.”
The party, he said, has “got to make it clear that we believe in a government that represents all, not just the few. Take on the greed of the insurance companies, the drug companies, Wall Street, all the big money interests, and start delivering for working-class people.”
“You do that,” he said, “I think Biden is going to win in a landslide.”
Biden conceded earlier this month that he “took a hard look” at his own age as he contemplated whether to seek reelection.
“(The American electorate is) going to see a race, and they’re going to judge whether or not I have it or don’t have it. I respect them taking a hard look at it. I take a hard look at it as well – I took a hard look at it before I decided to run, and I feel good, I feel excited about the prospects,” Biden said when pressed on his age during a joint news conference alongside South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the White House.
“With regard to age, I can’t even say I guess how old I am. I can’t even say the number – it doesn’t register with me,” he joked.
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday launched a Senate investigation into working and safety conditions at Amazon warehouses, adding to federal scrutiny on the labor practices of one of the country’s largest employers.
Sanders, the chairman of the Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions, also unveiled a website where Amazon workers can submit stories about their experiences at the company to help inform the investigation.
“The company’s quest for profits at all costs has led to unsafe physical environments, intense pressure to work at unsustainable rates, and inadequate medical attention for tens of thousands of Amazon workers every year,” Sanders wrote in a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announcing the probe.
Over the years, some Amazon workers have described the “grueling” experience of long hours racing around warehouses that can be the size of 28 football fields while the company tracks their every move.
Sanders has been one of Amazon’s most vocal and high-profile antagonists. He has sparred with the company over its labor practices and joined a rally of workers looking to unionize one of its facilities. In 2018, following heavy criticism from Sanders, Amazon announced it was raising its minimum wage for US employees to $15 an hour.
In his letter Tuesday, Sanders argued that Amazon warehouses “are uniquely dangerous,” and cited recent citations from the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration against Amazon.
After inspecting three Amazon warehouse facilities, OSHA issued hazard letters in January related to injury risks from workers lifting packages. An Amazon spokesperson at the time said the company “strongly” disagrees with OSHA’s claims and intends to appeal.
Sanders also cited a report from a group of labor unions that said Amazon’s rate of serious injuries at warehouses was more than double the rate at non-Amazon warehouses, as well as “concerning stories from workers around the country about the toll that working at Amazon warehouses takes on their bodies.” (Amazon said it disputes how the data in the labor unions’ report characterizes serious injury rate.)
Steve Kelly, an Amazon spokesperson, told CNN that the company “reviewed the letter and strongly disagree with Senator Sanders’ assertions.”
“We take the safety and health of our employees very seriously,” Kelly, the Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement. “There will always be ways to improve, but we’re proud of the progress we’ve made which includes a 23% reduction in recordable injuries across our U.S. operations since 2019. We’ve invested more than $1 billion into safety initiatives, projects, and programs in the last four years, and we’ll continue investing and inventing in this area because nothing is more important than our employees’ safety.”
Sanders also has an open invitation to come tour one of its facilities, the company said.
