Recurring COVID-19 relief checks? Benjamin, other mayors supporting the idea
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin is among a group of more than 30 mayors who are urging Congress to begin providing recurring checks to American households through the end of the pandemic.
On Thursday, the group Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, of which Benjamin is a member, took out a full-page advertisement in The Washington Post calling on President Joe Biden and Congress to initiate recurring relief checks through the end of the COVID-19 crisis. In all, 34 mayors from across the nation were listed on the ad.
“American families are hurting and on the brink of economic ruin,” the ad reads. “Nearly half of all households cannot put food on the table, pay their utility bills or afford their rent or mortgage.”
The overture goes on to say that “mayors are on the political front lines and know better than anyone the problems that Main Street faces” and that citizens need an “income floor.”
Biden is pitching a massive, $1.9 trillion COVID-19 and economic relief plan, which Benjamin also has expressed support for, specifically as it relates to the proposed nearly $350 billion in direct aid to state and local governments. Biden’s plan also calls for one-time $1,400 direct payments to citizens, but does not include recurring relief payments.
Benjamin said the mayoral group is not yet focusing on a specific amount of recurring relief funding.
“There’s more than 10 bills in Congress providing various levels of support,” the third-term mayor told The State. “Our focus is less in the exact amount and more in ensuring the payments are recurring.”
This isn’t Benjamin’s first flirtation with the idea of a guaranteed income initiative.
In December, he announced he was spearheading a basic income pilot program to help provide 100 local fathers with $500 each month over two years. The announcement came after Twitter founder Jack Dorsey pledged $15 million to Mayors for a Guaranteed Income for the pilot program in cities nationwide. In the Columbia pilot, the 100 fathers for the pilot program will be selected through the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition.
The idea of a universal basic income gained attention in 2019 and early 2020 through the presidential campaign of Democrat Andrew Yang, who proposed giving all Americans a “freedom dividend” of $1,000 each month.
Yang’s presidential hopes ultimately fizzled, but the concept lived on. In May, he announced that his non-profit Humanity Forward would be selecting two residents in Richland and Kershaw counties to receive $1,000 a month as part of a “universal basic income demonstration.”
Atlanta’s Keisha Lance Bottoms and Los Angeles’ Eric Garcetti also were among the nearly three dozen mayors who signed on to Thursday’s ad urging recurring relief checks during the COVID crisis.
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 2:01 PM.
