During a heated exchange on Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) clashed with a Fox Business reporter, at one point telling her, “I can yell as loud as you!”
The kerfuffle came after Sanders, who chairs the powerful Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, held a hearing on his legislation to reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours without any reduction in pay.
While in an elevator lobby, Sanders rudely interrupted Fox Business correspondent Hillary Vaughn as she questioned the merits of his four-day workweek.
“It seems like Democrats want businesses to be taxed more, pay their workers …” Vaughn said, initiating the confrontation. (RELATED: How We Let ‘Big Brother' Government Use ‘Big Tech' To Spy On Us)
“Really? Is that what you think?” Sanders replied, putting his fingers up to Vaughn's face.
When Vaughn attempted to try again, Sanders became more indignant.
“Excuse me! Excuse me!” Sanders interjected.
Despite Vaughn's protests that she didn't get to ask her question, Sanders droned on, giving the young journalist a list of talking points to defend his controversial bill.
“OK thank you. You wanna. Hold it, OK. We held a hearing on a 32-hour work week because what we have seen is that over the last 50 years, despite a huge increase in worker productivity, almost all of the wealth has gone to the top 1 percent while 60 percent of the people living paycheck to paycheck. Many of our people are exhausted. We work the longest hours of any people in the industrialized world. I think it is time for a shortened work week.”
“Many of our people are exhausted,” the senator added. “We work the longest hours of any people in the industrialized world. I think it's time for a shortened workweek.” (RELATED: Lib Indicted For Illegal Scheme To Ruin Fox News)
The Hill continues:
Vaughn attempted to ask the same question for a second time and Sanders cut her off again, waving his hand in front of her face. Vaughn asked the senator how businesses would survive a shortened workweek, and Sanders argued that Amazon owner Jeff Bezos pays a lower tax rate than the average worker, which shows “we have a real problem with our tax system.”
“I think that billionaires have got to start paying their fair share of taxes,” he said.
On Wednesday, Sanders and Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) introduced the “Thirty-Two Hour Work Week Act,” which aims to reduce the standard workweek by eight hours over four years. The bill also proposes to decrease the hours required for overtime compensation and increase overtime pay.
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) has introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives.
In a press release Wednesday, Sanders argued that his proposed legislation is not “a radical idea.” Employees today are more than 400 times more productive than they were in the 1940s, yet they still work longer hours and earn lower wages than they did decades ago, he said.
In his release, Sanders pointed to several pilot programs and studies that showed an increase in productivity with a 32-hour workweek. The studies found that because employees were happier, they were more productive at their jobs.
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