Congressman Robert Garcia, County Supervisor Holly Mitchell and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income Co-Chair Michael Tubbs Highlight Success Of Guaranteed Income Programs In Southern California
"The evidence is clear: guaranteed income fights poverty and builds stronger communities.” Congressman Robert Garcia said. “I’m proud to be fighting in Congress to restore the expanded child tax credit and will soon be introducing legislation to create new guaranteed income programs to uplift families.”
“Our pilot in Stockton demonstrated that guaranteed income works, and with dozens of pilots showing similar results across the country, we’re taking the case for an income floor across the country,” Mayor Tubbs said. “I’m excited for Americans to see what could happen if a guaranteed income becomes a reality. People would have longer amounts of time to respond to market pressures, to invest in themselves, to go to job training and all the things we know that we've seen repeatedly over this country that people do when they're given this little bit of money and real opportunity.”
“The era of invasive and patronizing social welfare in the United States needs to end. Research has shown us that things like work requirements and possible barriers to eligibility do nothing to truly address poverty and just continue to criminalize poverty,” Supervisor Mitchell said. “Guaranteed income can serve as an extension to existing social programs, like Medicare and Social Security. Those were, in their time, cutting-edge, innovative concepts around income security. Those were game-changing, life-saving policy initiatives that took a while to get done, and I believe we can get there with guaranteed income.”
This is the first event in an 20-city tour that Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI) is producing to show the evidence that providing direct payments can end poverty in the United States. Guaranteed income recipients have been able to pursue higher paying jobs, obtain undergraduate degrees, pay off debt, and afford basic necessities like food and utilities.
Congressman Garcia believes in defending our democracy, leveling the playing field with progressive education policy, addressing the climate crisis, supporting working families with increasing wages, and fighting to expand and protect essential rights for women, immigrants, and the LGBTQI+ community.
Under his leadership as Mayor, Long Beach piloted programs like tuition-free community college and a universal basic income pilot. He also passed measures to support community safety and rebuild our infrastructure, legalized and taxed cannabis while promoting social equity, and promoted open, honest and transparent governance by strengthening the city auditor, setting term limits, and creating ethics and redistricting commissions. His signature ballot initiative, Measure A, launched the largest infrastructure repair program in a generation, promoting good-paying union jobs.
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