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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

A group of Democratic Senators led by Bernie Sanders have introduced a bill to raise taxes on companies who overpay their executives. Members of Congress also heard testimony yesterday from an Amazon worker fighting for higher wages and better conditions.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden spoke to the fears of many Asian-Americans after the deadly mass shooting in Atlanta. Despite hemming and hawing from police, a local press report suggests there is no doubt the killer was motivated by racist hatred.

And lastly, the IRS is planning to push back this year’s tax filing deadline by a full month. But the agency’s huge backlog also means delays in getting stimulus payments out to the public.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Amazon faced fresh scrutiny for its treatment of workers at a Senate hearing yesterday on income inequality, the Washington Post reports. The focus came as senators introduced a new bill to tax chief executives who make fifty times more than the median workers. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont drilled into the gap between most Americans and billionaires during his opening remarks, pointing to data that billionaires have gained significant wealth during the pandemic. Sanders’s Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act would impose increased taxes on companies that have CEOs making significantly more than a median worker at the firm. It is also sponsored by Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, as well as Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. The bill includes stock options and awards as part of a CEO’s salaries, and if the CEO is not the highest-paid employee at the company, the equation would be based on who is.

Sanders invited Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to testify at the Budget Committee hearing, the Post reports, but he declined to appear. Jennifer Bates, an Amazon worker at the company’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, testified about the unionization efforts there. Bates said the company had been holding meetings to discourage workers from joining the union, sometimes multiple times a week. Voting by mail is already underway in Alabama and will end March 29. President Joe Biden expressed support for the union late last month. Bates

outlined why she believes workers need the union – to advocate for better working conditions and a higher living wage. Working at an Amazon warehouse is no easy thing, she said, adding QUOTE They seem to think you are another machine ENDQUOTE. Every worker deserves to be treated like a human.

Biden Addresses Atlanta Killings

President Biden yesterday addressed the spa shootings in Atlanta that left eight people dead, NBC News reports. He said he understands the concern among Asian Americans as investigators work to determine a motive. Biden said QUOTE Whatever the motivation here, I know Asian Americans, they are very concerned, because as you know I have been speaking about the brutality against Asian Americans, and it's troubling ENDQUOTE. Biden said that he had spoken on the phone yesterday with the attorney general and the FBI director and that a motive for the shootings was still being determined. A gunman shot and killed eight people at three massage spa parlors in the Atlanta area on Tuesday night, and six of the victims were women of Asian decent. Cherokee County sheriff's Captain Jay Baker said that after a brief manhunt, Robert Aaron Long, twenty one, was arrested and later confessed to the attack.

According to NBC, Baker said in a news conference yesterday that Long claimed that the attack was not racially motivated. Baker said that Long told investigators that he had a sex addiction and that he saw the spas as QUOTE a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate ENDQUOTE. But according to local Korean-language press translated by New York magazine writer E. Alex Jung, Long screamed during his attack that he would kill all the Asians.

Last week we told you how anti-Asian hate crimes have spiked during the pandemic. According to a new study cited by CBS News, Asian Americans were subjected to nearly three thousand eight hundred hate incidents over the last year. Verbal harassment and shunning accounted for sixty eight percent of the incidents. Physical violence accounted for eleven percent. It’s gotta stop, and it would help if authorities didn’t dither about the perpetrators’ movitves.

IRS May Delay Tax Deadline

Good news for procrastinators: The Internal Revenue Service is expected to postpone the country’s tax-filing deadline to mid-May, the Washington Post reports. The agency is grappling with a backlog of twenty four million returns awaiting processing since the 2019 tax year. The workload has put the agency underwater – and under political siege – as lawmakers fret that long-unresolved troubles at the IRS could undercut the Biden administration’s economic recovery efforts. Millions of Americans still have not received some stimulus checks under prior coronavirus aid packages, even as the tax agency continued distributing payments yesterday.

The IRS shared the full scope of its backlog with the House Ways and Means Committee and the agency’s own government watchdogs. The numbers, obtained by the Post, dwarf the data the IRS has shared with the public. The effects of the IRS backlog have been substantial: The delays have kept some Americans from receiving their tax refunds for months while preventing some cash-strapped workers and companies from taking advantage of some of the stimulus benefits that Congress authorized. The IRS communicated its plans to adjust the tax-filing deadline to House and Senate lawmakers yesterday.

Ken Corbin, commissioner of the wage and investment division at the IRS, declined to discuss the potential changes to the tax-filing deadline during an interview with the Post yesterday. But he said the situation reflects the many, many challenges the country and agency have faced because of the virus and other more recent obstacles, including inclement weather. The delays threaten the IRS’s ability to deliver an array of new relief under the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and could result in uncomfortable questions for IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, who is set to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee today. I wonder if he’ll blame the weather, too.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

FBI agents have arrested two organizers for the Proud Boys in Philadelphia and North Carolina, and prosecutors filed new charges against two other prominent members of the far- right group in Florida and Washington State as federal authorities continued their crackdown on its leadership ranks, the New York Times reports. Named in the indictment are Charles Donohoe, Zach Rehl, Ethan Nordean, and Joseph Biggs. They effed around and found out.

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton said Griddy Energy will forgive the more than $29 million owed by customers in unpaid bills, NBC reports. As people struggled to survive the recent storm, Griddy debited enormous amounts from customer accounts, Paxton said. He had sued the company under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and is still negotiating for relief to people who already paid their bills, which surged as high as $10,000 after the storm. The gall of these vultures!

A United Nations report slammed multiple countries for flagrantly violating a global arms embargo by funneling weapons to warring sides in Libya, the Washington Post reports. A a UN-appointed panel of experts documented scores of shipments of illicit items, including drones and transport aircraft, as well as the deployment of mercenaries, to Libya’s two chief factions. Russia, Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and others are implicated. What an awful, tragic mess.

Donald Trump’s son Eric, who runs the family’s private company, touted the potential of transforming their Doral golf resort into a gambling destination, according to the Post. The business pivot comes amid a push among Florida Republicans to legalize casinos in areas of the state that have long opposed them. During Trump’s presidency, revenue at the heavily indebted club dropped steeply, falling forty four percent last year. A failing club: Sad.

MAR 18, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn