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To get bipartisan support, the CARES Act that Congress recently passed left many people out. Last-minute adjustments addressed some issues, but the Act does little for Americans who already face barriers and have no social safety net upon which to rely during this public health and economic crisis.
Future federal relief bills must include the pre-existing circumstances of Americans and provide communities with expanded, recurring guaranteed income payments that last, at least, through the coronovirus-triggered economic downturn.
This pandemic has been most costly for those already marginalized: low-income Americans and communities of color. Early data suggests that black Americans are the most likely to die from coronavirus and that doctors are less likely to refer black Americans for testing when they visit a clinic with symptoms. Black and brown people have also been hardest economically, with particularly at-risk industries employing a larger-than-average share of minority populations. In March alone, the black unemployment rate rose to 6.7% from 5.8%, while the Latinx unemployment rate rose to 6.0% from 4.4%. Simultaneously, black and brown workers who are still employed, particularly those in essential industries like trucking and farming, are the least likely to have paid sick leave or the luxury to work from home.
These disparities unfortunately aren’t new. Even before the pandemic, black and brown Americans had disproportionately high rates of diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. Even in the best of times, the health care system hasn’t been designed for people of color. Almost 11% of the black population and 18% of the Latinx population is uninsured and the health care they receive is of lower quality. Black Americans hold about one-tenth of the wealth of white Americans, while brown women made just 54 cents to every dollar earned by white men.
The CARES Act does little to address these inequalities, and in fact excludes the most vulnerable. Among those ineligible for the expanded unemployment benefits and cash relief are undocumented people and ITIN filers — overwhelmingly Hispanic and Latinx —who comprise a huge majority of essential workers and are now risking their lives for those privileged enough to shelter in place.
These front-line workers, responsible for keeping communities running at grocery stores, farms, hospitals, and more, often barely make a living wage and have little to no access to health insurance. If undocumented people and ITIN filers can provide essential services during this pandemic, then they must also receive protection and relief.
While the CARES Act was adjusted to no longer require a minimum income to qualify, the cash stimulus remains inaccessible to those who made too little to file taxes. As a result, the neediest Americans — those living in deep poverty — will face extra hurdles to receive any help at all. But let’s be clear: a one time cash stimulus does little to remedy the income- and wealth inequality experienced by poorer Americans, a disproportionate number of whom are people of color due t0 structural racism and discriminatory policies. Wealthier Americans will weather this economic shock with relative ease and can afford to save any stimulus checks they receive, but poor people will likely need to spend any money they get right away.
From our Northern California city of Stockton, we’re uniquely positioned to speak to the needs of these communities in crisis, since we’ve been working directly with them in the nation’s first, mayor-led guaranteed income experiment — the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED).
We’ve heard from our recipients, who were randomly selected from neighborhoods at or below Stockton’s median household income, that their guaranteed income payments are the only thing they can count on economically in the wake of COVID-19, when the rest of their already volatile incomes have dematerialized. For some recipients, the recurring $500 guaranteed income has allowed them to purchase critical needs without delay, including food and housing.
Poverty stems from a lack of cash, not personal character. Guaranteed income payments support people in crisis and enable their upward economic growth. Recipients of Stockton’s pilot program have been able to take time off to interview for higher paying jobs with benefits, to be paid for the first time for essential care work overlooked by our economy, to volunteer in their communities and lift up others who are struggling, to pay for essential medications that they wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. All of which demonstrates the power of having a stable income floor.
The CARES Act’s single $1,200 stimulus check is not going to deliver enough short-term relief or provide the level of support Americans need to right the institutional wrongs that this pandemic has laid bare. We urge Congress to strongly support guaranteed income payments, in the form of unconditional, recurring cash. Government has a long history of bailing out corporations; it’s time to give more public dollars to the public.
Sukhi Samra is the director of the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration. Michael D. Tubbs is the mayor of Stockton, Calif.
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