States solve basic income and cause federal follow-on
SCPL and ESP ’22 [The Shriver Center on Poverty Law is based in Chicago and provides national leadership in advancing laws and policies that secure justice to improve the lives and opportunities of people living in poverty. The Economic Security Project legitimizes bold ideas by supporting cutting edge research and elevating champions, winning concrete policy victories for the communities that need to see change now, and provoke the conventional wisdom to shift what’s considered possible. Their team of academics, organizers, practitioners and culture makers disburse grants, run issue campaigns, develop creative interventions and research products, and convene to encourage investment and action from others. Their president is a Senior Fellow with the Aspen Institute for Work Initiative, 4/13/22, ‘States Lead the Way in Reimagining the Social Safety Net’, https://economicsecurityproject.org/resource/states-lead/, The Economic Security Project] A.J.
This structural inequity, coupled with decades of cruel immigration policies, has made it harder for immigrants to obtain economic stability. States have an opportunity to provide needed support and progress toward economic and racial justice for immigrant communities excluded from the social safety net by ensuring robust immigrant eligibility for state-funded cash transfer programs. Some states provided benefits both before and during the pandemic, to try to address some of the shortfall of federal programs and federal relief passed in response to COVID-19. California established a $125 million fund to help undocumented workers who cannot access unemployment insurance. Oregon added $20 million to the Oregon Worker Relief Fund which was created to provide temporary financial relief to undocumented workers. Connecticut provided a total of $3.5 million to aid undocumented families with rent relief and direct financial aid. Lastly, in Fiscal Year 2021 Illinois began providing Medicaid coverage for low-income seniors regardless of immigration status, making it the first state to cover older undocumented immigrants.102 Nothing in federal law would prevent states from providing state funds to immigrants in the form of a guaranteed income or other cash transfers, and offering long-overdue support to immigrants who are critical to the success of our communities. The legacy of so-called “welfare reform” and decades of disinvestment have resulted in a social safety net that perpetuates racism and is fundamentally incapable of allowing people to meet their basic needs and live with dignity. It is time to boldly reimagine the social safety net, eliminate deep poverty and provide stability to middle income households by implementing a guaranteed income. Ultimately, a federal program should be vigorously pursued, but a mass movement needs to be built to overcome gridlock at the federal level. States have a vital role to play as leaders in building public policy. Through creation of state-level guaranteed income programs funded through equitably raised revenue, states can progress toward economic justice for their lowest-income residents regardless of employment status, supplement the existing safety net, and build necessary momentum toward a federal program needed to meet current and coming economic challenges.