Bernie Sanders said he believes giving every household in the country $2,000 will help ease financial pain caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
“We need to provide a direct emergency $2,000 cash payment to every household in America every month for the duration of the crisis to provide them with the assistance they need to pay their bills and take care of their families,” Sanders said during a 50-minute policy address Tuesday.
The Vermont senator’s speech, coinciding with polls closing in Florida, did not refer to how the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate is on the ballot in the Sunshine State, as well as Arizona and Illinois. He faces decisive defeats in all three primary contests at the hands of Joe Biden, the two-term vice president and the party’s presumptive nominee.
Instead, Sanders focused on a raft of reforms he said he would present to Senate leadership this week to tackle the health and economic ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic, which he predicted would cost the federal government $2 trillion. He invited supporters to provide feedback.
Adding to initiatives floated since the disease started to spread, he also suggested expanding “Medicare to cover all medical bills during this emergency” so the uninsured and underinsured can receive relief. He distinguished it from his signature platform of Medicare for All, conceding, “We cannot pass this now.”
Former 2020 Democratic White House hopeful Andrew Yang ran on the idea of a $1,000-per-month universal basic income program. The ex-nonprofit executive welcomed the discussion in a statement on Tuesday.
“It’s unfortunate to see this development take place under the current circumstance, but that is exactly what Universal Basic Income is designed to do — offer a way to ensure that Americans can make ends meet when they need it most,” he wrote.
