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Microsoft created a chatbot that makes COVID-19 healthcare systems more efficient, and the CDC is using it. Apple designed, and is shipping, a new type of face shield for healthcare workers. IBM is loaning supercomputing power to scientists and universities who are trying to understand the spread of the virus. Tech billionaires, including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and most recently Jack Dorsey, pledged donations to food banks and other resources supporting people through the pandemic.
In this edition of CPI Talks we have the pleasure of speaking with U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, of California's 17th Congressional District.
Thank you, Representative Khanna, for sharing your time for this interview with CPI.
1. The "tech giants" have come under enhanced scrutiny at a regulatory and political level in recent years and months. What do you see as the main antitrust challenges posed by these companies? Do you think new legislation or regulation is required, or do you believe more rigorous enforcement of the existing antitrust toolkit would be appropriate?
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is considering waiving a rule that would bar certain small businesses from receiving much-needed bailout money through the government's coronavirus stimulus plan after a bipartisan push by lawmakers to fold in sinking startups as recipients under the program.Rep.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Ro Khanna, who represents a large part of Silicon Valley, are asking the Trump administration to protect start-ups as it carries out relief payments for small businesses under the CARES Act.
For years, California Rep. Ro Khanna has been trying to warn the country and the people who run it that America needs a stronger safety net. Even as the tech industry in his Silicon Valley district flourished and the broader economy soared, the former Stanford economics professor has argued that the average worker in America was standing on shaky ground.
He never wanted to be proven right this way.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-San Jose) has penned a letter calling for President Donald Trump to issue a national shelter-in-place to slow the spread of coronavirus. Meanwhile, Trump is looking at the country reopening around Easter.
"Our current actions to stem the tide are not enough. The total number of COVID-19 cases and deaths have nearly doubled over the last 48 hours. At this rate, we will surpass one million confirmed cases and 13,000 deaths within the next ten days," the letter (.pdf) states.
A growing number of states have implemented "shelter in place" orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic, ordering the closure of nonessential businesses and barring residents from making unnecessary trips. But some in Congress believe those closures should not just be ordered on a state-by-state basis, but on a federal level as well.
Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California and 19 of his colleagues sent a letter to the White House on Tuesday asking the president to issue a two-week shelter in place order for the entire country.
More than 60 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives want the Trump administration to press Israel not to use American military equipment to demolish Palestinian homes.
Fremont Rep. Ro Khanna's district has been one of the hardest hit in the country by the novel coronavirus.
Santa Clara County, which covers much of Khanna's 17th Congressional District, reported 37 cases as of Monday, the most in California. There are at least 124 cases across the state.
ALMOST A YEAR after the Trump administration unsealed an indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, two progressive members of Congress are trying to prevent a World War I-era secrecy law from being used to investigate and prosecute journalists for publishing classified information.