Yahoo Finance Presents: Representative Rashida Tlaib

Democratic Representative of Michigan, Rashida Tlaib, sat down with Yahoo Finance's Sibile Marcellus to discuss a wide range of topics, including the recent open letter to Jeff Bezos about Amazon working conditions, democratic leadership in Congress, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Video Transcript

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SIBILE MARCELLUS: Welcome to "Yahoo Finance Presents." I'm Sibile Marcellus. My guest today is Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Born and raised in Detroit by Palestinian immigrant parents, she became one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress in 2018, and now two years later, she recently got re-elected to another term. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, it's great to have you on.

RASHIDA TLAIB: Thank you so much for having me.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: I want to first start with this open letter that you sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. You're among 400 politicians around the world who are asking Jeff Bezos to act as a global corporate citizen by raising wages and paying more in taxes. Why is Jeff Bezos being singled out here?

RASHIDA TLAIB: Well, I think it's really important to know that I represent the third poorest congressional district in the country and have, you know, two Amazon distribution centers near-- one in my district and one very close, where a lot of my residents, many of which one of four, are essential workers, are considered essential workers. And so for much of the, you know, challenges and difficulties that many of my families are going through during this global pandemic, it was very important to show just the unjust economic divide that is happening in our country. And the fact that many of these workers are working for the richest person in the nation, in the world right now, and the fact that they are still at low poverty wages, not having protection in the workplace, and they're all asking as many of my colleagues that sign on to the letter have been contacted by many employees of Amazon asking us to do more to hold him accountable.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: And this letter is accusing Jeff Bezos of acting with impunity, of having debts to workers, societies and the planet. Is this an attempt to win in the Court of international public opinion amid a pandemic that has rocked the global economy, or are you proposing specific penalties for Jeff Bezos or Amazon, and if so, what would that actually look like?

RASHIDA TLAIB: I mean, I think we want to speak the truth, the truth that it is very unfair to have this person be exempted from taxes, especially when much of their workers, again, are poverty wages where the federal government, the United States federal government, is subsidizing for the fact that he will not pay his employees fair wages, have health care coverage. Guess who has to pay for it? The taxpayers. We have to pay for the health coverage that he doesn't want to pay for or be able to pay for food assistance and other items that I think much of which would not be an issue but for the fact that Jeff Bezos refuses to take care of his workers, the people, the very people that make him successful, the very people that help him with his profit margins. And so I think it's very important for people to understand this is not about, you know, some strategy or project, it's about speaking the truth about the reality of many of our neighbors and residents that are going through.

I mean, these are workers around the world who are saying the same thing, that they don't feel protected in the workplace. They feel unfair fair treatment. And I have to tell you, you know, I visited personally an Amazon facility in my district with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, and what we were hearing is the retaliation by the headquarters, you know, really enabling management and others on the ground here in Michigan to, you know, push back against those that might ask for masks, for sanitizer, for those that are asking for a longer bathroom breaks to be able to wash their hands longer or at least be able to, you know, even be a part in the workplace.

So I just want you all to know, I mean, this is 18 to, what, 20,000 people that work for Amazon right now got COVID. And these are mothers, these are daughters, these are our loved ones that we care about. So is this about some specific-- no, this is about holding them accountable and saying you have to pay your fair share. And if anything, listen to the workers, listen to the people that work for this man, and they're asking us, do more. Hold him accountable to pay more taxes, because guess what? We have to get in the food bank line, because he won't pay us enough.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: And as you mentioned, so Amazon has paid zero in federal income taxes two years in a row in 2017 and 2018, but why put the blame on him? Is it not our corporate tax system that allows a company like Amazon to be able to do something like that? Why not put the blame on lawmakers in Congress and in the Senate who allow for such tax legislation to be enacted?

RASHIDA TLAIB: Oh, and that's a great point, but guess what? We are the ones lawmakers that are using this as an important point is that not all of us believe that this should be the status quo. I think many of us, including myself that represents a very struggling challenged district. I mean, I got elected because I said I would hold corporations accountable. And so many of us that are signing this, we're giving a clear message to colleagues that are looking the other way or closing their eyes to the fact that this is wrong, this is so invariably wrong and immoral.

If anything, this pandemic has exposed just how broken and wrong it was to allow a man with this amount of wealth to get away with not paying his fair share while my residents are paying more in taxes. People that are making less than $40,000 are paying more in taxes than the richest man in the world. And so many of us that are signing on are saying not enough. To my colleagues in Congress, I'm giving them notice when I sign this letter and saying that I'm not going to back off.

I'm going to join people like Senator Sanders and others in demanding that, again, they pay their fair share, especially now that I'm hearing, as we try to debate this COVID relief package, that we now can't afford to give people another $1,200 stimulus check. Well, guess what? I know exactly where we can get the money to pay for it, and I believe Jeff Bezos knows exactly where as well.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: OK, so does this mean that further down the line, are you looking at raising taxes on Amazon or corporate taxes in general in the country?

RASHIDA TLAIB: Well, I have a bill, CEO pay tax bill, is basically looking at the CEO pay, and if it is, you know, 50 times I believe more than what they're paying their workers, then they automatically would have to pay at a higher rate of taxes, primarily because I think it's important to understand when they don't pay their workers enough, guess who has to pay for the health care coverage, for the food assistance to take care of the children that they're trying to raise. So much of the fact that they don't pay their fair share and they're getting this big tax cut, we are the ones who have to subsidize those cuts, and it's not fair for the American people, the taxpayers, to pay double for taking care of our neighbors, and those, again, are front line workers that have to show up.

These are the people that back our groceries. These are the people that are packing the goods at the Amazon distribution centers, getting folks the resources or services that they need. It's just completely unfair. And at this moment during this global pandemic, it's just immoral.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: I reached out to Amazon to see if they had a reaction to your open letter. They definitely have received it, and this is what they sent me this is a statement. Quote saying, "While as a large company, we welcome scrutiny from policymakers, the matters raised in this letter stemmed from a series of misleading assertions by misinformed or self-interested groups who appear to be using Amazon's profile to further their individual causes." Have you heard from Jeff Bezos, and what's your reaction to that statement?

RASHIDA TLAIB: You know, my reaction instantly is, you know, instead of spending time and money on these media folks that are coming and helping you with messaging and trying to say that the facts, the facts is evident. You're paying low wages, and close to 20,000 of your employees got COVID. There's something wrong in the system that we are the ones, the American people, the taxpayers, globally, really, are subsidizing for the fact that you won't pay enough and protect your workers in the workplace. So I urge them, stop with the press releases and actually do something about it.

You know, I'm hearing more and more of whispers, and it's going to happen, Jeff Bezos. Your plant, your factories, your distribution centers, they're going to unionize. These workers are going to organize, and they're going to demand what we as lawmakers are demanding of you is that you have to pay your fair share. You have to take care of the workers that is making you successful. And you can afford it, Mr. Bezos. You can afford it. Instead of paying for the media consultants and folks that come up with these statements, I say pay attention to your workers. They are the reason that you are successful, and they deserve better.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Amazon is clearly continue to make profits amid the pandemic. Meanwhile, many businesses have been devastated, specifically those who didn't have a robust e-commerce infrastructure. And for example, small businesses, some were able to receive the Paycheck Protection Program loans, but we haven't seen another round. And we know that small businesses account for nearly half of employers in the country.

As a result, we've seen hundreds of thousands of Americans get laid off, face job cuts every single week. Another round of stimulus checks, the first round was helpful, the second round is stalled in these deadlocked Washington negotiations. I know that you've proposed paying for another round of stimulus checks by reversing Trump's tax cuts. Is that something that Democratic leadership House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer would actually go for?

RASHIDA TLAIB: I mean, I think there's a number of my colleagues and I agree that that tax program was very egregious and so unfair to the American people, and we are seeing the devastation of it. I mean, our school system needs close to $300 billion to make up for the tax loss that many of us are going to see in the coming year. We are seeing the fact that we, you know, and again, it's not we, it's the people that promoted this. It's the special interest groups, the lobbyists, I mean, they have made-- we're talking about a what, over a trillion dollars in tax breaks.

I mean, I just saw that Jeff Bezos and other billionaires profited off of opportunity zones which were in that tax plan, right, that was supposed to help communities like mine with affordable housing and stimulate the local economy. And guess what? They're using it for some hobby of theirs to explore space. Explore space with our money instead of taking care of our people during a pandemic and take care of their workers. And so I know that many leaders may, again, want to continue to look away and see this as a tax increase, but I'll tell you this much. We don't see it as-- we see it as really leveling the playing field in some terminologies that are used in Washington DC and people paying their fair share.

I hear them always say that when it comes to my residents and asking for stimulus payment, but they never question what are the billionaires doing with that tax break. What are they spending money on, because I'll tell you, if we did the same kind of scrutiny or took on the same scrutiny that we do of our residents on unemployment checks, on, you know, the stimulus payment that we gave them last time, if we did the same kind of audit and expectations, what did you use it for? What did you spend it on?

I think that maybe my leadership and others in different caucuses would probably look back and say, oh my God, we did something that was completely wrong for the American people. That is my hope. I will stay optimistic. My residents expect me to, and I will continue to speak truth to power. That's all I can do, so they can continue trying to spend this is misleading, but I'll tell you one thing. When I say tax the rich, my residents know, including my small businesses that have been continued to be left out, they know that's exactly what is needed right now, because they're paying their fair share. They're paying more than Jeff Bezos is. My small bakeries, my small restaurants are paying more than the richest man in the world, and they know that that is unfair.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: And that just brings me back, I feel like I need to double down on this, the fact that, you know, another round of stimulus has not been approved yet by Congress. We've seen this back and forth with the White House and Democratic leadership. Now as a progressive Democrat, and as you said, you represent one of the poorest congressional districts in the country, do you feel like Democratic leadership, Pelosi and Schumer, are in tune with the needs of Americans who have been devastated by this pandemic?

RASHIDA TLAIB: And you know, this is not to defend them, but I got to be, you know, working again along the side of Speaker Pelosi, many of my colleagues that are trying to really come to a middle ground with folks that are just so in opposition to helping the American people, in opposition to helping people with rent, even the small business help was so much of a struggle, especially Black owned businesses were left out dramatically from the last PPP program. And so when we came and spoke the truth about that, I know that there was pushback. One of the things I want to be clear, and I told this to President-elect Biden, and Speaker Pelosi knows this, I tell them, never take what I'm trying to do personally.

I'm on a different timeline, and I think I believe that the continuation from others that say, wait, wait until later for a stimulus check. This is not the time. When they tell me wait to address climate crisis, wait to address poverty in our country, I tell them I'm on a different timeline. We have the same goals, but I can't wait, because my residents have been waiting years, months, weeks. They don't have another day nor an hour. They are dying at a higher rate of COVID, because we have neglected them for too long.

And so I'm urging my colleagues, step up on the timeline. There's a sense of urgency that I think the American people are demanding of us. And in that regards, I think well intended or not, telling us to wait until we find the money when we're telling you exactly where to find the money and exactly how to pay for it, and I think you'll see a majority bipartisan folks outside of Congress supporting us and taxing those that haven't paid their fair share.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Well, Congresswoman Tlaib, it'll be very exciting to see how your proposals fare in the new Biden administration. Thanks so much.

RASHIDA TLAIB: Thank you.