The president of the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income tells Fox News Digital that working-class Americans need something simple: cash.
“I think everybody in this country understands we live in a country that’s unaffordable for working people,” Michael D. Tubbs told Fox News Digital.
Mayors for a Guaranteed Income touted in February that more than 60 bills that would implement cash-based policies similar to guaranteed income have been floated in 15 states.
Tubbs also founded the Counties for a Guaranteed Income and Legislators for a Guaranteed Income. He served as mayor of Stockton, Calif., from 2017 to 2021.
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Legislators for a Guaranteed Income reported more than 20 bills in 11 states being proposed to establish some form of statewide guaranteed income program.
The affordability crisis has plagued many Americans amid rising costs of groceries, housing, and healthcare. The House passed legislation — showing a rare display of bipartisanship last month with a 390-9 vote — to deliver policies aimed at growing the supply of affordable housing in the U.S.
“I see the overarching strategy is that we know we’re in the affordability crisis. We know that people are looking for solutions to put money in their pockets. We know people want to be able to afford rent and childcare and food in the U.S.,” Tubbs said.
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Guaranteed basic income programs have become a trend across the U.S. in recent years, with more than 100 pilot programs launched since 2018. Mayors for a Guaranteed Income grew into a coalition of over 150 mayors pushing pilot programs, offering low-income participants up to $1,000 a month with no strings attached. The group has pushed pilot programs that have been adopted by municipalities across the country.
Most notably, Cook County, Ill., the second-largest county in the U.S., established a permanent guaranteed basic income program after the success of a previous pilot version. The program launched in 2022 with the aid of federal COVID-19 relief funds.
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Tubbs, a Democrat, wants the federal government to follow suit by providing guaranteed income programs or something similar to provide cash assistance.
“We have wars in Iran, regime change in Venezuela. We get it, the healthcare system and the big, ugly bill,” he said. “So people are saying that social safety is being frayed.”
“That wealth is further being taken from the many and given to the few, and there has to be a government solution because this is a government-caused problem… inflation, unaffordability, this is all a direct result of government policy,” Tubbs told Fox News Digital.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Donald Trump took a shot at Democrats over affordability issues in the country during his State of the Union address last month, saying they had brought about inflation and open borders.
“Now the same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters suddenly use the word ‘affordability,'” he said. “A word, they just used it. Somebody gave it to them, knowing full well that they caused and created the increased prices that all of our citizens had to endure. You caused that problem.”
