NEW BILLS IN CONGRESS: “Establishing a 21st Century Economy for All”

I just got great news from Ken Pentel in Minnesota (Ecology Democracy Network), who has been working on one of the two bills that U.S. Ilhan Omar (MN) is packaging as Establishing a 21st Century Economy for All — Support the GPI Act and SUPPORT Act. According to Ken, the GPI Act and the SUPPORT Act will be introduced into Congress in the next few weeks. Ken is working on the Genuine Progress Indicator Act. 

Right now, Rep. Omar is collecting organizational sign-ons for either or both bills, through this Friday (July 16, 2021).

Below are details and links.

I think that food & farm folks will agree that the food & farm justice movement will benefit greatly from:
— an increased money supply (SUPPORT Act: basic income pilot projects)
— more accurate, holistic, and comprehensive economic metrics in federal decision-making (GPI Act: requiring GPI as a metric supplementary to GDP)

If anyone wants to hire Ken to brief legislators, legislative staff, groups, or individuals, he is available. He has been working on GPI for many years (including a current Minnesota bill). At least four other states have already adopted the GPI (including OH and MD). Ken knows his stuff. I’ve copied him on this email. His contact information is below.

This is a huge opportunity for all Americans, including food & farm activists. I hope groups will let Rep. Omar know that we’re paying attention by signing on to her support form. It’s very short.

DETAILS on U.S. Rep. Omar’s new bills:
GPI Act and SUPPORT Act

1. Sign-on to either or both bills by July 16, 2021 — for organizations
You can include a quotable statement.
Sign-on form.

Introduction
“Establishing a 21st Century Economy for All – Support the GPI Act and SUPPORT Act”

“As we continue to make our way out of this fragile COVID recovery, the United States will need to take bold and transformative measures to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth in the long term. Here are two bills that could help shape and strengthen our economy for working-class Americans—”

2. GPI Act 
a. Sign-on document description:
The GPI Act would “study and implement a more holistic economic metric, alongside Gross Domestic Product (GDP), that would include and analyze the social and environmental benefits & costs of economic activity in the U.S. government’s fiscal and budgetary reporting.”

b. Fact sheet (2 pages)
Posted on my website: GPI Act Fact Sheet

3. SUPPORT Act stands for: 
Sending Unconditional Payments to People Overcoming Resistances to Triumph

a. According to the sign-on document, the SUPPORT Act would “make cash assistance a local and federal priority by funding basic income pilots across the country and implementing a national guaranteed income program.”

b. Fact sheet (5 pages)
Posted on my website: SUPPORT Act Fact Sheet

c. Sections
— Short Title: SUPPORT Act
— Office of Basic Income Programs
— Income Pilots
— Establishment of the Guaranteed Income Tax Credit
— Creation & Integration of FedAccounts with Postal Banks

4. For more information on GPI Act, contact:
Ken Pentel, Director 
Ecology Democracy Network
P.O. Box 3872 
Minneapolis, MN 55403

5. My statements on the sign-on document:
Also Tweeted.

GPI Act
Ever since Marilyn Waring, a New Zealand politician and academic, wrote the book If Women Counted (1988) (later republished as Counting for Nothing), I knew something was wrong with GDP. It took 33 years and an immigrant from Somalia to get the ball rolling in the U.S. Congress. Yes on the GPI Act of 2021.

SUPPORT Act
Ever since 2015 when I read Iroquoian Women: The Gantowisas by Native American scholar Barbara Alice Mann, I knew what the U.S. political economy was missing: Funded sovereignty — AKA universal basic income for all U.S. voters to compensate us for doing the work of self-governing. Yes on the SUPPORT Act of 2021.

NOTE: This blog was originally sent as an email to the following listservs:
— COMFOOD (Tufts U.) largest & oldest food & farm listserv
— Food Policy Networks (Johns Hopkins U.) supports food policy councils (FPCs)
— Regeneration Midwest (Organic Consumers Assn.) serves 12 states
— National Public Banking Alliance

It has been lightly edited.