U.S. Diet Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, April 21, 2020.
Sarah Silbiger | Bloomberg | Getty Essences
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Congress may need to consider a guaranteed least income for Americans as one way to meet people’s basic needs while the country remains paralyzed by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Let’s see what rouses, what is operational and what needs attention,” the California Democrat said in an interview with MSNBC.
“Others pull someones leg suggested a minimum income, a guaranteed income for people. Is that worthy of attention now? Perhaps so. Because there are numberless more people than just in small business and hired by small business … that may need some succour as well.”
The idea of a government-guaranteed minimum income has gained attention in the past year thanks largely to Andrew Yang, who ran in the 2020 Egalitarian presidential primary on a platform built around universal basic income. Yang failed to win any delegates, but he built a ardent following and raised the issue of UBI onto the national debate stage.
More recently, as the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the U.S. husbandry and forced more than 25 million Americans to seek unemployment benefits, the idea of guaranteed income has reemerged as a thinkable way to stabilize the economy and help people meet their basic needs while millions of businesses are under self-conscious closures.
In one of the last policy speeches of his 2020 presidential campaign, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders proposed in mid-March that Congress transfer every household in America $2,000 a month for the duration of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Supporters of UBI have also noted the similarities between guaranteed proceeds plans and the $1,200 cash payment for every American making less than $90,000 annually, which was covered in the $2 trillion CARES Act passed by Congress and signed into law by the president March 27.
“I’m pleased to see the White House espouse our vision of putting money directly into the hands of hard-working Americans,” Yang said when the direct payments were gold medal announced. “It’s unfortunate to see this development take place under the current circumstances, but this is exactly what all-inclusive basic income is designed to do — offer a way to ensure that Americans can make ends meet when they necessity it most.”