A Week of Firsts!!!
This has been an important week of firsts as we fight for economic justice — both in getting an emergency basic income included in the next phase of stimulus, and for growing the larger movement for passing a permanent basic income. Check it out below.
But first! Take two quick actions to keep applying pressure to Congress to include monthly payments to the people as part of CARES 2.
1) Send Congress another letter! We have evidence they are listening. More Congresspeople have signed on to or spoken publicly in support of monthly payments than ever before.
2) Post a Thank You! on your social media to Speaker Nancy Pelosi with #ThankYouMadameSpeaker. Why thank her? See first bullet below. Need suggestions of things to thank her for? Check these out.
Thank you!
Now, on to Important Events this Week:
- Nancy Pelosi talked with press about guaranteed income for the first time: the Speaker of the House used the specific term “guaranteed income”, saying that it may be time to consider this as part of the next stimulus. She was intentional in using this language, and it is a signal that she knows the history and sees value in the idea of monthly payments to people.
- Basic Income leadership united to support grassroots action: Income Movement brought together leaders from Humanity Forward, Fund for Humanity, Humanity First Movement, USBig as well as influencers like Scott Santens to build and promote a set of grassroots actions people can take to pressure Congress to include monthly payments to the people. We even built a website that has all actions in one place!
- The YangGang was back in the news! Part of the grassroots action campaign was to get #CongressPassUBI trending last Friday and get the media to pay attention to the people’s demand for monthly payments to be part of the next stimulus. Needless to say, it was a huge success! The hashtag trended most of the day and multiple articles were written. Two days later, Speaker Pelosi came out and discussed guaranteed income.
- Income Movement was able to talk with Rep. Rashida Tlaib about her ABC Act during an interview on The Briefing. The ABC Act is the closest piece of legislation we have seen to a universal basic income. If you haven’t already become familiar with it, now’s the time! Thanks to The Justice Collaborative for organizing and hosting the show.
Resources Reminder: if you or people you know need support during this crisis, please use and share this hub of links to resources as part of the global Mutual Aid effort. Food, healthcare, rent support, and many other things are included in these resource documents.
We hope this letter finds you and your loved ones healthy and safe.
Warmly,
