I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1030 

To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to establish the Boost Communities 

Program to provide monthly payments to America’s consumers during 

the COVID–19 emergency to recover from the emergency, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2021 

Ms. TLAIB (for herself, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Ms. NORTON, 

Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PRESSLEY, and Ms. BUSH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 

and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to establish the 

Boost Communities Program to provide monthly payments to America’s consumers during the COVID–19 

emergency to recover from the emergency, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Automatic Boost to 

5 Communities Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For purposes of this Act: 

3 (1) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 

4 the Boost Communities Program as set forth in sec5 tion 3. 

6 (2) INTERIM BOOST CARD.—The term ‘‘interim 

7 BOOST card’’ means a prepaid debit card issued 

8 pursuant to section 3. 

9 (3) PAYMENT PERIOD.—The term ‘‘payment 

10 period’’ means the period— 

11 (A) beginning on the first day of the first 

12 month beginning after the date of the enact13 ment of this Act; and 

14 (B) ending on the later of— 

15 (i) the termination of the emergency 

16 declared on March 13, 2020, by the Presi17 dent under section 501(b) of the Robert 

18 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

19 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191(b)) with 

20 respect to the COVID–19 pandemic; or 

21 (ii) the date on which the national un22 employment rate (as determined by the 

23 Bureau of Labor Statistics) is within 2 

24 percentage points of the national unem25 ployment rate on the moving average of 

26 December 2019 through February 2020, 


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1 and the 3-month average of the national 

2 unemployment rate has declined for two 

3 consecutive months. 

4 (4) DIGITAL DOLLARS.—The term ‘‘digital dol5 lars’’ means dollar balances consisting of digital 

6 ledger entries recorded as liabilities in the accounts 

7 of any Federal reserve bank and digital coins or cur8 rency instruments issued by the United States 

9 Treasury as legal tender, and held as bearer instru10 ments in any digital dollar cash wallet approved by 

11 the United States Treasury. 

12 (5) DIGITAL DOLLAR ACCOUNT WALLETS.—The 

13 term ‘‘digital dollar account wallet’’ means a digital 

14 dollar account, maintained by a Federal reserve 

15 bank on behalf of any person, for the purpose of 

16 holding digital dollar balances. 

17 (6) DIGITAL DOLLAR CASH WALLETS.—The 

18 term ‘‘digital dollar cash wallet’’ means any software 

19 program, whose standards, specifications, and func20 tions are authorized and regulated by the United 

21 States Treasury, which stores, sends, and receives 

22 digital coins or currency instruments issued by the 

23 United States Treasury as legal tender, and which 

24 are considered bearer instruments in the possession 


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1 of the individual or entity on whose behalf the wallet 

2 is managed and administered. 

3 (7) AT-RISK POPULATIONS.—The term ‘‘at-risk 

4 population’’ means a population that is experiencing, 

5 or reasonably may be expected to experience, unique 

6 direct or indirect financial or personal hardship as 

7 a result of or during the Coronavirus crisis, includ8 ing the elderly, homeless, physically disabled, and 

9 those in remote areas, as well as any other popu10 lation as identified by the Secretary. 

11 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of the Treasury. 

13 SEC. 3. BOOST COMMUNITIES PROGRAM. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 

15 program to be known as the ‘‘Boost Communities Pro16 gram’’. Under the Program, the Secretary shall make pay17 ments to eligible individuals for each month in the pay18 ment period. Such payments shall consist of a general as19 sistance component and a targeted supplemental assist20 ance component. 

21 (b) PAYMENTS.—For purposes of this section— 

22 (1) AMOUNT OF PAYMENTS.—The amount of 

23 payments under the Program shall be— 

24 (A) for general assistance— 


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1 (i) $2,000 per month to each eligible 

2 individual thereafter during the payment 

3 period; and 

4 (ii) $1,000 per month to each eligible 

5 individual a year after the payment period; 

6 and 

7 (B) for targeted supplemental assistance, 

8 such additional amounts and sums as deter9 mined by the Secretary to be necessary and ap10 propriate to meet the specific needs of eligible 

11 individuals who are members of at-risk popu12 lations, as identified by the Secretary. 

13 (2) METHODS OF PAYMENT.— 

14 (A) DIRECT DEPOSIT.—As regards recipi15 ents who have previously provided bank account 

16 information to the Secretary, the Secretary 

17 shall directly deposit Program payments into 

18 these accounts, unless recipients indicate a pref19 erence to receive an Interim BOOST Card in20 stead, in which case that preference shall be 

21 honored, and all subsequent Program payments 

22 shall be made exclusively via the BOOST card. 

23 (B) INTERIM BOOST CARDS.—In any case 

24 in which subparagraph (A) does not apply, the 

25 Secretary shall contract with banking instituVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1030.IH H1030

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1 tions that includes minority deposit institutions, 

2 community development financial institutions, 

3 credit unions, national banking association, and 

4 any licensed money transmitter as deemed nec5 essary or appropriate by the Secretary to issue 

6 an interim BOOST card. 

7 (3) INTERIM BOOST CARDS.— 

8 (A) RULES RELATING TO INTERIM BOOST

9 CARDS.—The interim BOOST card shall— 

10 (i) have all the functionality and serv11 ice levels currently available to certain re12 cipients of public benefits through the 

13 Treasury Department’s Direct Express 

14 program; and 

15 (ii) not be subject to any fees or pen16 alty charges, usage restrictions, or data 

17 collection practices other than those explic18 itly authorized by this Act. 

19 (B) AVAILABILITY OF FULL BALANCE.— 

20 The full balance of the interim BOOST card 

21 shall be made available for immediate with22 drawal into physical currency at any automated 

23 teller machine in the country, at any time, and 

24 not be subject to any usage or withdrawal fees. 

25 (C) DISTRIBUTION.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

2 distribute interim BOOST cards using the 

3 Postal Service to all eligible individuals 

4 with an active address on file with any 

5 government agency, and shall be delivered 

6 by certified mail wherever possible, using 

7 the fastest service available, with any asso8 ciated costs to the Postal Service reim9 bursed directly by the Treasury of the 

10 United States. 

11 (ii) IN PERSON PICK-UP.—Any eligible 

12 individual who does not have an active ad13 dress on file with any government agency, 

14 or who otherwise is not able to or does not 

15 receive a prepaid card pursuant to clause 

16 (i) may obtain an interim or replacement 

17 BOOST card through any card distribu18 tion station set up under the Program, in19 cluding through any bank (as defined in 

20 section 581 of the Internal Revenue Code 

21 of 1986), insured credit union (within the 

22 meaning of section 101(7) of the Federal 

23 Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1752(7))) lo24 cated in the United States, post office, 

25 United States diplomatic missions or any 


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1 other Federal, State, or local government 

2 agency or private contracting entity, as de3 termined by the Secretary to be necessary 

4 or appropriate. 

5 (iii) WEB-BASED ACCESS.—The Sec6 retary shall establish a website for the pur7 poses of allowing eligible recipients to up8 date their current mailing address and di9 rect deposit information, to indicate their 

10 preference to receive an Interim BOOST 

11 card instead of receiving payments via di12 rect deposit, and for providing account in13 formation to users, including information 

14 pertaining to the account number, status 

15 of delivery and receipt of their allocated 

16 funds, and the amount of the funds still 

17 available on their card and to obtain a 

18 check in the amount of the funds in the 

19 account. 

20 (iv) TELEPHONE ACCESS.—The Sec21 retary shall establish a dedicated telephone 

22 information and assistance number for the 

23 purposes of allowing eligible recipients to 

24 update their current mailing address and 

25 direct deposit information, to indicate their 


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1 preference to receive an Interim BOOST 

2 card instead of receiving payments via di3 rect deposit, and for providing account or 

4 card information to users, including infor5 mation pertaining to the status of delivery 

6 and receipt of their allocated funds, and 

7 the amount of the funds still available on 

8 their card. 

9 (v) AT-RISK OUTREACH.—The Sec10 retary shall establish a dedicated Emer11 gency Responder Corps, and where nec12 essary or appropriate, as determined by 

13 the Secretary, shall contract with existing 

14 Federal, State, and local government agen15 cies and private entities, to perform out16 reach to at-risk populations, including the 

17 elderly, homeless, physically disabled, or in 

18 remote areas, to ensure that these popu19 lations receive their interim BOOST card 

20 as well as to perform a general wellness 

21 check in case of needed targeted supple22 mental assistance, which shall then be pro23 vided in such sums and amounts as deter24 mined to be necessary and appropriate by 

25 the Secretary via any payments mechanism 


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1 otherwise authorized by this Act and 

2 deemed appropriate for the circumstances 

3 by the Secretary. 

4 (4) REGULATORY TREATMENT OF PAYMENT.— 

5 The Secretary shall apply the ‘‘XX’’ code specified 

6 in section 212.3 of title 31, Code of Federal Regula7 tions, to designate all Program payments as benefit 

8 payments. The Secretary shall further issue such 

9 rules or guidance as needed to protect Program pay10 ments from garnishment. In addition, the Secretary 

11 shall issue such rules or guidance as needed to en12 sure that any funds distributed through the Pro13 gram do not render recipients ineligible for any 

14 other Federal, State, or local benefits or income that 

15 they would otherwise have been entitled to receive in 

16 the absence of the Program, including excluding any 

17 general assistance or targeted supplemental assist18 ance received via the Program from calculation of 

19 reportable annual income for the purpose of calcu20 lating eligibility for benefits subject to an income21 cap threshold. 

22 (c) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible indi24 vidual’’ means— 


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1 (A) a citizen or resident (as such terms are 

2 used in section 7701(a)(30)(A) of the Internal 

3 Revenue Code of 1986) of the United States; 

4 and 

5 (B) any nonresident alien (as defined in 

6 section 7701(b)(1)(B) of such Code) who has 

7 been in the United States for more than the 3- 

8 month period beginning on December 13, 2019. 

9 (2) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘United 

10 States’’ includes the 50 States, the District of Co11 lumbia, and the possessions of the United States, in12 corporated territories and citizens abroad. 

13 (d) RULES RELATING TO PROGRAM.— 

14 (1) COORDINATION.—To ensure that the Pro15 gram is as universal and comprehensive as possible, 

16 the Secretary shall develop a list of eligible individ17 uals through coordination with the Internal Revenue 

18 Service, the Social Security Administration, the Fed19 eral Election Commission, and every other relevant 

20 Federal, State, and local government agency, includ21 ing State Departments of Motor Vehicles. Any ex22 penses incurred by any entity as a result of compli23 ance with the gathering of this information and con24 struction of this database shall be reimbursed di25 rectly by the United States Treasury. 


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1 (2) DATABASE OF RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary 

2 shall establish a database of recipients, identified by 

3 name and, where available, employer identification 

4 number, individual tax identification number, stu5 dent identification, or swear in an affidavit where 

6 you are ineligible for a social security number and 

7 unable to submit satisfactory proof that your pres8 ence in the United States is authorized by Federal 

9 law. This affidavit will not be treated as public 

10 record and use solely for the purposes of this pro11 gram. The database established under this para12 graph shall not be shared with any other Federal, 

13 State, or local agency, other entity, or Immigration 

14 Customs Enforcement and related enforcement 

15 agencies, or used for any purpose other than to ad16 minister the program, provided that the Secretary 

17 may share identifying information with the Board of 

18 Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the 

19 United States Postal Office for the purpose of devel20 oping banking accounts maintained at the Federal 

21 Reserve Board or for the purposes of maintain ac22 counts at the United State Postal Office, upon re23 ceipt of written consent of recipients for such infor24 mation to be shared for this purpose. 


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1 (e) PUBLIC AWARENESS PROGRAM.—Not later than 

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

3 establish an awareness program to inform the public of 

4 the availability of the existence of the Program and eligi5 bility of recipients to receive general and targeted supple6 mental assistance, as well as the various payment and dis7 tribution options available to receive this assistance. The 

8 Secretary shall use appropriate means of communication 

9 to carry out the provisions of this section. 

10 (f) FUNDING.— 

11 (1) DIRECTIVE TO MINT AND ISSUE PLATINUM

12 COINS.—The Secretary shall, under section 5112(k) 

13 of title 31, United States Code, mint and issue two 

14 $1 trillion platinum coins and shall further mint and 

15 issue any additional $1 trillion coins on an as-needed 

16 basis to cover any direct and indirect expenses re17 lated to the Program for the duration of the pro18 gram. 

19 (2) TRANSFER OF FUNDS TO THE GENERAL

20 FUND.—The Secretary shall direct the United States 

21 Mint to sweep all funds received from the sale of the 

22 coins under paragraph (2) into the general fund of 

23 the Treasury. 

24 (g) PRESERVING FEDERAL RESERVE INDEPEND25 ENCE AND EFFICACY OF MONETARY POLICY.—To ensure 


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1 that the Program does not unintentionally or unduly inter2 fere with or limit the efficacy of the Federal Reserve Sys3 tem in achieving its statutory obligations, including in par4 ticular with respect to implementation of its monetary pol5 icy objectives, the Board of Governors of the Federal Re6 serve shall be authorized: 

7 (1) SUPPLEMENTAL FINANCING SECURITIES.— 

8 To issue as Federal reserve notes under section 

9 248(d) of title 12, United States Code, digital secu10 rities, including bills, notes, and bonds, of whatever 

11 maturity, denomination, and yield, as is deemed ap12 propriate and necessary by the Board of Governors 

13 to achieve its statutory objectives under the Federal 

14 Reserve Act, in quantities up to an amount equiva15 lent to the total face value of all platinum coins 

16 issued by the United States Treasury and held as 

17 assets by the Federal Reserve System. Notes issued 

18 under this paragraph shall be sold on the open mar19 ket in a manner similar to the sale of Treasury secu20 rities, and, like Federal reserve notes, shall be con21 sidered direct obligations of the United States under 

22 section 8 of title 18, United States Code, but shall 

23 be recorded for accounting purposes as direct liabil24 ities of the Federal Reserve System, and accordingly 

25 shall not be included in calculations of public debt 


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1 subject to limit under section 3101 of title 31, 

2 United States Code. 

3 (2) ESTABLISH A DEDICATED SPECIAL TREAS4 URY MONETARY FINANCING ACCOUNT.—The Federal 

5 Reserve Bank of New York shall establish an ac6 count titled the ‘‘Special Treasury Monetary Financ7 ing Account’’, in which shall be recorded any ex8 penses associated with payment of interest on settle9 ment balances or Federal reserve securities up to a 

10 total principal amount equivalent to the total prin11 cipal value of all platinum coins issued by the 

12 United States Treasury and held as assets by the 

13 Federal Reserve System, plus any additional liabil14 ities incurred as a result of prior interest payments 

15 made on liabilities issued against coin assets pur16 chased under the Program. Any ongoing losses in17 curred by this account shall be recorded as a nega18 tive liability, and shall be maintained separately 

19 from the rest of the balance sheet of both the Fed20 eral Reserve Bank of New York and the Federal Re21 serve System, so as not to reduce or impact the cal22 culation of total income or revenue generated by the 

23 Federal Reserve System, or otherwise reduce the 

24 total amount of net operating profits to be made 


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1 available for remittance to the Treasury on an ongo2 ing basis. 

3 (h) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary and the Board of 

4 Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall issue such 

5 regulations or other guidance as may be necessary or ap6 propriate to carry out this section. 

7 (i) SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ESTABLISH8 MENT OF FEDACCOUNTS AND TREASURY-ADMINISTERED

9 ECASH WALLETS.— 

10 (1) DIGITAL DOLLAR ACCOUNT WALLETS.— 

11 (A) ESTABLISHMENT.—It is a sense of 

12 Congress that at the end of the payment period, 

13 the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

14 System shall develop and administer a system 

15 of Digital Dollar Account Wallets, which shall 

16 be branded as ‘‘FedAccounts’’, and made avail17 able to all United States citizens, United States 

18 residents, and domestically domiciled busi19 nesses, along with associated services, including 

20 debit cards, online account access, automatic 

21 bill-pay, mobile banking, and automatic teller 

22 machines maintained in conjunction with the 

23 United States Postal Services at its physical lo24 cations. 


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1 (B) BOOST PAYMENTS VIA DIGITAL DOL2 LAR ACCOUNT WALLETS.—No later than Janu3 ary 1, 2022, the Secretary shall offer all recipi4 ents of BOOST payments the option to receive 

5 their payments in digital dollar wallets. BOOST 

6 recipients receiving their payments through in7 terim BOOST cards shall instead receive a Fed8 eral Reserve Account for debit cards and be 

9 given the option to sign up online for fully oper10 ational digital dollar account wallets. 

11 (C) AUTHORIZATION FOR EACH FEDERAL

12 RESERVE BANK TO MAINTAIN DIGITAL AC13 COUNT.—Subject to such restrictions, limita14 tions, and regulations as may be imposed by the 

15 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Sys16 tem, each Federal reserve bank may maintain 

17 digital dollar account wallets. 

18 (D) Digital dollar account wallets shall not 

19 be subject to any account fees, minimum bal20 ances, or maximum balances, and shall not be 

21 closed or restricted on the basis of profitability. 

22 (E) Digital dollar account wallets shall 

23 partner with Post Office branches to ensure ac24 cess and availability to application and account 

25 services for all United States citizens and 


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1 United States residents and domestically domi2 ciled businesses in areas where access to phys3 ical member bank branches is limited, in low- or 

4 moderate-income geographies; designated dis5 aster areas; distressed or underserved non-met6 ropolitan middle-income geographies as des7 ignated by the Federal Financial Institutions 

8 Examination Council, Federal Reserve banks. 

9 (F) Digital dollar account wallets shall 

10 provide account holders with reasonable protec11 tion against losses caused by fraud or security 

12 breaches but shall not include overdraft cov13 erage. 

14 (G) Digital dollar account wallets shall 

15 comply with the relevant portions of the Bank 

16 Secrecy Act in establishing and maintaining 

17 digital dollar account wallets and shall impose 

18 privacy obligations on providers under the Pri19 vacy Act of 1974 that mirror those applicable 

20 to Federal tax returns under sections 6103, 

21 7213(a)(1), 7213A, and 7431 of the Internal 

22 Revenue Code of 1986. 

23 (2) TERMS OF DOLLAR CASH WALLET SYS24 TEM.—At the end of the payment period, the Treas25 ury shall develop and administer a system of digital 


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1 dollar cash wallets, which shall be branded as 

2 ‘‘eCash Wallets’’ and made available to any eligible 

3 individual to store, send, and receive digital coins or 

4 other digital currency instruments issued by the 

5 United States Treasury as legal tender. 

6 (3) ADDITIONAL SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is 

7 the additional sense of Congress that— 

8 (A) digital dollar cash wallet hosting serv9 ices shall be offered directly by the Treasury, in 

10 coordination with the Federal Reserve and li11 censed depository and money transmitter enti12 ties, to promote integration with and interoper13 ability between digital dollar cash wallets and 

14 digital dollar account wallets managed by the 

15 Federal Reserve, and shall not be subject to any 

16 associated administrative fees or minimum or 

17 maximum balances, and shall not be closed on 

18 the basis of profitability considerations; 

19 (B) digital dollar cash wallets shall also be 

20 capable of being self-hosted on widely available, 

21 inexpensive digital devices, including mobile 

22 phones, with any necessary software or hard23 ware licensed under an appropriate open source 

24 license; and 


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1 (C) a Digital Financial Privacy Board 

2 shall be— 

3 (i) established by the Secretary to 

4 oversee, monitor, and report on the design 

5 and implementation of the digital dollar 

6 cash wallet system; 

7 (ii) maintained thereafter to provide 

8 ongoing oversight over its administration; 

9 and 

10 (iii) designed in such a way as to rep11 licate the privacy and anonymity-respecting 

12 features of physical currency transactions 

13 as closely as possible, including prohibition 

14 of surveillance or censorship-enabling back15 door features. 

16 (4) REGULATION.—The Board of Governors of 

17 the Federal Reserve System shall promulgate regula18 tions carrying out this section. 

19 SEC. 4. ADDRESSING IMPACT ON INEQUALITY. 

20 After the termination of the emergency declared on 

21 March 13, 2020, by the President under section 501(b) 

22 of the Robert Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As23 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191(b)) with respect to the 

24 COVID–19 pandemic, the Secretary shall establish an 

25 independent Commission to— 


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1 (1) investigate and ascertain the short-term and 

2 long-term impact of emergency relief measures, in3 cluding those included in this Act, on overall levels 

4 and rates of increase of income and wealth inequal5 ity in the United States; and 

6 (2) identify and propose a comprehensive set of 

7 legislative and policy responses to address such im8 pacts, including progressive tax reform as well as the 

9 enactment of new Federal programs and emergency 

10 response practices to preemptively prevent such out11 comes from occurring in the event of future similar 

12 crises or emergencies. 

Æ 


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