UpTogether Endorses Bill in Congress to Create National Guaranteed Income Pilot

UpTogether is proud to sign on as an endorsing organization to the Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey reintroduced the bill that would create a national pilot program to study guaranteed income. 

Here are the main details of the proposal:

• The bill establishes a three-year nationwide pilot program that gives monthly cash payment to individuals.
• The cash payments would be equal to the fair market rent for a 2-bedroom home in their zip code or a similar amount.
• The payments would not be counted against eligibility for federally-assisted state or local programs, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid.
• The pilot would include 20,000 individuals, including a control group of 10,000, and require a study of the impact of cash payments on economic security.

“What we learned when Congress made the decision to send economic impact payments through the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan was that our government can prevent people from falling into poverty, it can build a floor beneath which we say no one in this country should fall. This bill is all about looking at ways to make that floor permanent, giving more families a sense of economic security,” said Rep. Watson Coleman in announcing the bill.

Individuals and families who have received unconditional cash from UpTogether support a nationwide pilot program.

"I guarantee the scales on the developmental rates for the adults and the children, man, they would skyrocket because there’d be less stress, less anxiety, more trust, more connections, more bonding, and most of all, self-esteem and confidence," said Angela, a single mother of three living in Oakland, California, who received investments of $500 a month for 18 months as part of the Oakland Resilient Families Guaranteed Income Pilot, which was 100% funded by philanthropy.

"Guaranteed income gives people control over their lives so they can find their own pathways to economic mobility. We endorse policy change at the federal level to make direct cash investments in people as a way to address poverty, because the status quo is not working,” said UpTogether CEO Jesús Gerena.