I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5776 

To establish a pilot program providing certain individuals with a guaranteed 

monthly income, to study the effect of a guaranteed monthly income 

on such individuals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023 

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN (for herself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 

TORRES of New York, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. LEE of 

California, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. CROCKETT, and 

Ms. JACOBS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To establish a pilot program providing certain individuals 

with a guaranteed monthly income, to study the effect 

of a guaranteed monthly income on such individuals, 

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 ‘‘Guaranteed Income 

5 Pilot Program Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Too many Americans cannot achieve finan2 cial stability due to income volatility, the rising cost 

3 of living, wage stagnation, and a lack of affordable 

4 housing. 

5 (2) Real wages have failed to keep pace with in6 flation, meaning the purchasing power of American 

7 households has not changed in decades. 

8 (3) Income volatility, defined as an annual in9 come fluctuation of 25 percent or more, impacts mil10 lions of American households. 

11 (4) Two-thirds of Americans are worried they 

12 wouldn’t be able to cover their living expenses for 

13 just 1 month if they lose their primary source of in14 come, while 57 percent of American adults are cur15 rently unable to cover a $1,000 emergency expense. 

16 That percentage is higher for millennials at 79 per17 cent, and Generation Z at 85 percent, unable to 

18 cover an emergency expense. 

19 (5) Full-time minimum wage earners cannot af20 ford an average 2-bedroom apartment anywhere in 

21 the United States. 

22 (6) The changing nature of the economy, in23 cluding the rise of the gig economy, unemployment 

24 risks posed by automation, and the fluctuating naVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Sep 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5776.IH H5776

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1 ture of waged labor, will result in increased income 

2 volatility and prohibit upward economic mobility. 

3 (7) During the height of COVID-19, the Fed4 eral Government provided stimulus checks to the 

5 American people in response to the economic hard6 ship of the pandemic. The Census Bureau complied 

7 an analysis that showed that material hardship in 

8 United States households fell sharply following the 

9 passage of the COVID-19 relief bill in late Decem10 ber 2020, and the American Rescue Plan in March 

11 2021. From December 2020 to April 2021, food in12 sufficiently fell by over 40 percent, financial insta13 bility fell by 45 percent, and reported adverse men14 tal health symptoms fell by 20 percent. 

15 SEC. 3. GUARANTEED INCOME PILOT PROGRAM. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 

17 with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, shall establish 

18 and implement a 3-year pilot program (hereinafter re19 ferred to as the ‘‘program’’) to provide a guaranteed 

20 monthly income to certain eligible individuals in accord21 ance with this section. 

22 (b) INCOME SUBSIDY.— 

23 (1) SELECTION OF PARTICIPATING ELIGIBLE

24 INDIVIDUALS.—The Secretary, in consultation with 

25 the Commissioner and the external partner selected 


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1 pursuant to subsection (d), shall develop selection 

2 criteria that the Secretary will use to select 20,000 

3 total eligible individuals for participation in the pro4 gram. 

5 (2) AMOUNT OF INCOME SUBSIDY.—Of the eli6 gible individuals participating in the program, 

7 10,000 shall receive a cash payment each month 

8 equal to the fair market rent for a 2-bedroom home 

9 in the zip code in which the eligible individual re10 sides, or a substantially similar amount as deter11 mined by the Secretary, in consultation with the 

12 Commissioner and the external partner. 

13 (3) MONTHLY DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME SUB14 SIDY.—Each participating eligible individual shall 

15 receive the cash payment on the 15th day of each 

16 month. 

17 (c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMISSIONER OF INTER18 NAL REVENUE.—The Commissioner of Internal Revenue 

19 shall be responsible for— 

20 (1) providing the Secretary access to tax 

21 records to administer and study the program under 

22 this section; 

23 (2) updating the Secretary and the external 

24 partner on changes to the taxable income of a par25 ticipating eligible individual. 


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1 (d) EXTERNAL PARTNER.— 

2 (1) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall select an 

3 external partner to provide assistance with the de4 sign, administration, and evaluation of the program. 

5 (2) QUALIFICATIONS.—An organization selected 

6 to be the external partner shall have demonstrated 

7 experience in— 

8 (A) mixed-methods experimental design; 

9 and 

10 (B) implementing cash-transfer programs. 

11 (3) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The external partner, 

12 and any employee of the external partner, shall be 

13 treated as a Federal employee for purposes of sec14 tion 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

15 (4) DATA COLLECTION.—The external partner 

16 shall collect data from participating eligible individ17 uals as necessary to complete the study and reports 

18 required under section 4, and to conduct any addi19 tional research as the Secretary determines nec20 essary. 

21 (e) DISREGARD OF CASH PAYMENTS FOR PURPOSES

22 OF ALL FEDERAL AND FEDERALLY ASSISTED PRO23 GRAMS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any 

24 payment made to participating eligible individuals under 

25 this section shall not be taken into account as income, and 


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1 shall not be taken into account as resources for a period 

2 of 12 months from receipt, for purposes of determining 

3 the eligibility of such eligible individual (or any other indi4 vidual) for benefits or assistance (or the amount or extent 

5 of benefits or assistance) under any Federal program or 

6 any State or local program financed in whole or in part 

7 with Federal funds. 

8 SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT. 

9 (a) STUDY ON PILOT PROGRAM.—The Secretary, in 

10 collaboration with the Commissioner and the external 

11 partner, shall conduct a study on outcomes of the pro12 gram. 

13 (b) INTERIM REPORT.—Not later than 24 months 

14 after participating eligible individuals have been begun 

15 participating in the program, the Secretary, in consulta16 tion with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the 

17 external partner, shall provide an interim report on the 

18 program under section 3 to the Congress. 

19 (c) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 12 months after 

20 the conclusion of the program under section 3, the Sec21 retary, in consultation with the Commissioner of Internal 

22 Revenue and the external partner, shall provide a final re23 port on the program to the Congress, including— 

24 (1) an analysis of— 


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1 (A) the effect of the monthly income sub2 sidy provided in section 3 on— 

3 (i) micro-economic outcomes of par4 ticipating eligible individuals; 

5 (ii) the health of participating eligible 

6 individuals; 

7 (iii) the social costs of income vola8 tility, including connections with income 

9 fluctuation and health, housing, education, 

10 employment, childcare, and other outcomes 

11 as determined appropriate by the Sec12 retary; and 

13 (B) the feasibility of expanding the pro14 gram under section 3 to include a larger num15 ber of participants; and 

16 (2) the results of interviews and focus groups 

17 conducted with consenting participants of the pro18 gram. 

19 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis22 sioner’’ means the Commissioner of the Internal 

23 Revenue Service. 


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1 (2) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 

2 individual’’ means an individual taxpayer between 

3 the ages of 18–65. 

4 (3) EXTERNAL PARTNER.—The term ‘‘external 

5 partner’’ means a non-partisan research agency or a 

6 non-profit academic institution with expertise in so7 cial science experimentation. 

8 (4) FAIR MARKET RENT.—The term ‘‘fair mar9 ket rent’’ means the applicable fair market rent es10 tablished under section 8(c) of the United States 

11 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(c)). 

12 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

14 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

16 this Act $495,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2024 

17 through 2028. 

Æ 


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