Politics

Rashida Tlaib Wants US Treasury To Fund Coronavirus Recovery With Universal Basic Income For All, Including Illegals

House Holds Hearing On Reaching Hard-to-Count Communities In 2020 Census
Scott Morefield Reporter
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Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib proposed a plan that would have the U.S. Treasury provide what amounts to an emergency universal basic income (UBI) for every person in America until the coronavirus crisis ends.

The proposal, called the “Automatic BOOST to Communities Act,” would require the Treasury to issue two $1 trillion platinum coins, which would then be used to issue direct payouts to Americans using a pre-loaded U.S. debit card.

Everyone in the U.S. would receive $2,000 as an initial payment, then $1,000 per month until the coronavirus crisis has passed. The bill’s definition of “every person” includes non-citizens and residents of unincorporated territories or protectorates.

“In response to the Coronavirus crisis, the Automatic BOOST to Communities Act would immediately provide a U.S. Debit Card pre-loaded with $2,000 to every person in America,” the proposal’s summary reads. “Each card would be recharged with $1,000 monthly until one year after the end of the Coronavirus crisis.”

The proposal described the “funding approach” as follows:

The Treasury Secretary would direct the U.S. Mint to issue two $1 trillion platinum coins, under the legal authority provided by 31 U.S.C. § 5112(k).

Congress would direct the Federal Reserve to purchase the newly issued coins at full face value.

The Federal Reserve would complete the purchase by crediting the U.S. Mint’s account at the Fed with $2 trillion in reserves.

The Fed would retain ownership over the two $1 trillion coins permanently in order to ensure its own balance sheet remains fully capitalized by the Treasury.

The Treasury Secretary would “sweep” the newly created reserve funds from the Mint’s account into the regular Treasury General Account.

The Treasury would make the funds available to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service to disperse to every person in America in the form of pre-paid U.S. Debit Cards.

“I fully support the House Financial Services Committee Democrats #COVID19 economic response proposal,” Tlaib tweeted on Saturday. “I also want to encourage leadership to consider my truly universal relief proposal on behalf of #13thDistrictStrong.”


She then called on President Donald Trump to get behind her plan:

According to HuffPost senior reporter Zach Carter, the plan would “take advantage of an obscure Treasury authority to issue new currency through minting platinum coins, and then give that currency to people.”

The measure also calls for a “long term” plan where the “card infrastructure” created is “converted into a permanent, Treasury administered digital public currency wallet system, to serve as a privacy-respecting ‘eCash’ complement to universal Fed Accounts and/or Postal Bank Accounts for All.”

It also called for “progressive tax reform” so the distributions do “not exacerbate income or wealth inequality in the long-term.” (RELATED: ‘Decadent And Foolish’: Tucker Rips Mitt Romney’s Temporary ‘Guaranteed Basic Income’ Proposal)

Tlaib claimed that the move would create no additional national debt, but critics noted that it would create a whole host of other problems, including possible hyperinflation.