Tulsi Gabbard Introduces Emergency UBI Same Day FED Announces $1.5 Trillion Stimulus Package for Wall Street
Yesterday, on March 12th, Tulsi Gabbard introduced legislation, H.R.897 to provide emergency financial relief of $1000 a month to average Americans - in contrast to the FED’s announcement on the same day that proclaimed the intention to inject $1.5 Trillion into the stock market over 48 hours.
Gabbard’s bill, intended to provide 209 million American adults financial relief during this crisis, would spend 1.5 trillion dollars after over 7 months, which is much more moderate compared to the Fed’s time-frame of 2 days. While the FED required no congressional approval for this gargantuan level of spending, Gabbard’s bill is still awaiting approval - and has yet to garner a single cosponsor.
As The Week noted, “It's the rich and the powerful of Wall Street who benefit most directly from the Fed's willingness to act and go big. The central bank can prevent the financial system from coming apart, which is certainly a good thing. But it can do little for the average person's livelihood. Not only is that a galling and unjust situation, but, like all trickle-down strategies, its economic value is decidedly limited.” This dynamic is what led Gabbard to propose her Emergency UBI bill which would actually provide direct emergency economic stimulus for individual Americans - rather than stock holders who are not living paycheck to paycheck and have some assets to cushion themselves from the economic fallout.
Americans: We need $1.5T for:
Qasim Rashid for Congress (@QasimRashid) March 12, 2020
SNAP for 700K Americans: $1.1B
End homelessness: $20B
Insulin for every diabetic: $40B
Universal Pre-K: $60B
Universal 4-yr-college: $70B
Cancel student debt: $1.4T
GOP: BuT HOw WiLl wE PAy fOr It
Billionaires: Market's look bad
FED: HERE'S $1.5T!
Before the legislation was introduced, Rep. Cortez took to twitter to demand emergency UBI as seen in H.R.897 as well as debt relief and the guarantee of healthcare.
This is not the time for half measures.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 12, 2020
We need to take dramatic action now to stave off the worst public health & economic affects.
That includes making moves on paid leave, debt relief, waiving work req’s, guaranteeing healthcare, UBI, detention relief(pretrial, elderly, imm)
The Federal government should consider pausing collection on student loan debt.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 12, 2020
The bill that Tulsi introduced to the house would acknowledge the direct impact on everyday Americans - many of whom are already economically struggling and desperately need relief - that can be expected from this outbreak which will force many to miss work and struggle to pay bills and afford rising prices of food and medicine. The proposed legislation would go on to say that “the Federal Government should more readily provide and prioritize direct economic relief for the American people, the majority of which are living paycheck to paycheck, rather than bailing out Wall Street banks and large corporations and industries”
The main components of the bill would read
(1)The Federal Government should create and provide an emergency Universal Basic Payment of $1,000 per month available to all Americans until the Department of Health and Human Services declares that the COVID–19 outbreak no longer presents a public health emergency;
(2) The Universal Basic Payment should be a temporary economic stimulus package aimed to empower Americans directly and immediately; and
(3) The Payment should be made to every United States citizen above the age of 18 years and should be nontaxable.
After introducing the bill, Gabbard would be quoted to say,
“While some in Washington are focused on taking care of Wall Street, everyday Americans get left behind. That’s wrong. Instead, we must act swiftly to provide a temporary universal basic payment of $1,000 per month to every American adult to help them weather the storm created by this crisis. Taking care of all Americans will stimulate our economy during this downturn. I’ve introduced a resolution that prioritizes people so our economic relief is placed directly into the hands of every American, rather than getting stuck in bureaucracy or ending up in the pockets of big corporations.”
She would reaffirm the sentiment that Americans need direct relief on twitter:
Standing by for votes on a bipartisan emergency direct aid package for Americans most impacted by #Covid_19 outbreak. The Senate needs cancel their 10-day recess & stay in session, pass emergency funding right away. Don't leave the American people behind. #CoronavirusPandemic
Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 12, 2020
It is worth noting that Italy has already suspended all mortgage and debt payments until the crisis blows over and Australia has free testing through the nation's public healthcare. Meanwhile, reports are flooding in of Americans racking up hundreds or even thousands of dollars in medical bills after going to the hospital to get tested, or being released from a government mandated quarantine.
Yesterday I introduced HRes 897 to provide an #EmergencyUBI for every American — the most simple, direct form of assistance to help weather this storm. As negotiations continue on the bipartisan aid package, let your Member of Congress know why this is so important. #Covid_19 pic.twitter.com/DRdWmmcMRX
Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 13, 2020
“Too much attention has been focused here in Washington on bailing out Wall Street banks and corporate industries as people are making the same old tired argument of how trickle-down will eventually help the American people. But really, as has happened so many times before, it's the American taxpayer that gets left holding the bag, struggling and getting no help during a time of crisis.”
Separate from Gabbard’s legislation, Ro Khanna and Tim Ryan would introduce similar legislation that would employ an earned income tax credit, that is a tax relief or refund, to supply between $1000 and $6000 dollars to individuals earning less than $65,000 a year. In response to these demands for direct relief to everyday Americans, House speaker Pelosi had promised to approve of legislation that guaranteed two weeks of paid sick-leave as well as free testing for the coronavirus to ease the financial burden Americans are having to, or going to have to, come to face with - with or without approval by the minority republican opposition, as reported by NewsWeek.
After talks with secretary of treasury Mnuchin, Pelosi would later go on to inform that a deal had been made with the president and republican legislators, although details of which have not been released as of yet. “We are proud to have reached an agreement with the Administration to resolve outstanding challenges,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to fellow legislators.
Assumably, it would “include two weeks of paid family sick leave, up to three months of paid family and medical leave, free coronavirus testing, food aid, unemployment insurance, increased federal funds for Medicaid and increases protections for frontline workers.” However, Pelosi said nothing of the cost-sharing of treatment, instead only focusing on testing, which the president had already addressed.
The president said that insurers “have agreed to waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments.” Don’t count on that. Insurers’ biggest trade group (“AHIP”) said soon after Trump’s speech that what insurers would waive would be cost-sharing for testing. Not treatment. (2/10)
Wendell Potter (@wendellpotter) March 13, 2020
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer reaffirmed Pelosi’s stance in a letter to his colleagues, “If we reach agreement, we'll vote on it. If not, we will vote today on our bill, which incorporates nearly all of what the Administration and Republicans have requested.” While paid family leave would certainly be welcomed, Tulsi’s UBI bill had not been mentioned by Pelosi, or even Cortez who had called for a “No-strings UBI program” the day before Tulsi’s legislation was introduced, along with some other desirable measures such as a temporary freeze on evictions.
Right about now would be a great time to weigh emergency measures like:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 12, 2020
- Extending Medicare/Medicaid coverage to all
- Eviction freezes
- No-strings UBI programs
- Eliminating work requirements for SNAP &other assistance
- Humanitarian provisions in prisons & decarceral policies
Americans seem to relish the idea of an emergency UBI, with #EmergencyUBI trending on twitter at the moment of writing. Former presidential candidate Marriane Williamson would endorse Tulsi’s legislation. Andrew Yang, while not specifically endorsing Gabbard’s legislation by name, had also advocated for the idea of an emergency UBI yesterday - with his proposal of a general UBI being at the core of his presidential bid.
Andrew Yang🧢 (@AndrewYang) March 13, 2020
Just hours prior to the time of writing, Yang had recently retweeted a tweet that mentioned Gabbard and AOC after stating that “the coronavirus pandemic had added fuel to the fire calling for UBI”, and would proceed to tweet:
The seemingly radical can go mainstream in an awful hurry when circumstances demand it.
Andrew Yang🧢 (@AndrewYang) March 14, 2020
Naturally, Gabbard’s introduction of legislation, which is most similar to Yang’s UBI relative to the other economic relief proposals by democrats, has drawn the attention and appreciation of many Yang Supporters. It should be known that while Gabbard’s bill only calls for the temporary implementation of UBI for the duration of the coronavirus crisis so that the bill could feasibly make it past the republican controlled senate and reach the president’s desk, Tulsi has endorsed Yang’s proposal of a general universal basic income and incorporated it as part of her presidential platform.
We’ve bailed out banks
Eric Carter 🧢💰Humanity Forward (@FMPedmayo) March 13, 2020
We’ve bailed out Wall Street
We’ve bailed out the auto industry
It’s time to bail out the people. #EmergencyUBI