Guaranteed income needed for working Americans, advocate says

The president of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income told Fox News Digital that working-class Americans need something simple: cash.

“I think everyone in this country understands that we live in a country where working people are unaffordable,” Michael D. Tubbs told Fox News Digital.

Mayors for Guaranteed Income announced in February that more than 60 bills have been introduced in 15 states that would implement cash-based policies similar to guaranteed income.

Tubbs also founded Counties for Guaranteed Income and Legislators for Guaranteed Income. He served as mayor of Stockton, California, from 2017 to 2021.

Guaranteed Income lawmakers say more than 20 bills in 11 states have been proposed to create some form of statewide guaranteed income program.

affordability crisis rising costs of food, housing, and healthcare have plagued many Americans. The House passed legislation last month in a rare display of bipartisanship by a 390-9 vote to implement policies aimed at increasing supply. affordable housing in the USA

“I see the overall strategy being that we know we’re in an affordability crisis. We know people are looking for solutions to put money in their pockets. We know people want to be able to afford rent, child care, and food in the United States,” Tubbs said.

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Guaranteed Income Mayors announced in February that more than 60 bills that would implement cash-based policies similar to guaranteed income have been filed in 15 other states. (Ozan KöseE/AFP via Getty Images)

Guaranteed basic income programs have become a trend across the US in recent years; 100 pilot programs launched since 2018. Mayors for a Guaranteed Income has grown into a coalition of more than 150 mayors pushing pilot programs, offering low-income participants up to $1,000 a month with no strings attached. The group pushed the pilot programs adopted by municipalities across the country.

Most importantly, Cook County, Illinois The second-largest county in the United States has created a permanent guaranteed basic income program following the success of a previous pilot version. The program launched in 2022 with the help of federal COVID-19 relief funds.

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President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office on March 3, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Tubbs, a Democrat, wants the federal government to follow suit by providing guaranteed income programs or something akin to providing cash assistance.

“There are wars in Iran, there is regime change in Venezuela. We understand the healthcare system and the big, ugly toll,” he said. “So people are saying Social Security is eroding.”

“Even more of this wealth is being taken away from the many and given to the few, and there needs to be a government solution because this is a government-caused problem…inflation, unaffordability, these are all a direct result of government policy,” Tubbs told Fox News Digital.

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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Donald Trump, in his State of the Union speech last month, lashed out at Democrats for affordability issues in the country, saying they were leading to inflation and open borders.

“Now the same people in this House who voted for these disasters are suddenly using the word ‘affordability,'” he said. “In short, they just used it. It was given to them by someone who knew very well that they caused and created the price increases that all our citizens have to endure. You caused this problem.”

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