INTERVIEW — DAVID GROSSO – D.C. Councilmember (At-Large, Independent)

• Is a basic income possible in D.C.? The city is looking into it. (Washington Post) — Tucked into the plan the D.C. Council unanimously approved Tuesday to raise the city’s hourly minimum wage to $15 by 2020 was an amendment to study an even more radical idea: a basic income. Council member David Grosso (I-At-Large) successfully introduced an amendment that calls on the city’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer to study the possibility of providing a basic income in D.C. Universal Basic Income is a policy in which the government gives its residents a certain amount of money to spend as they wish. The amount of money each person and family receives is tied to the cost of living in that jurisdiction. The idea garnered international attention this week after voters in Switzerland overwhelmingly rejected a national proposal for a basic income.  Ontario is rolling out a pilot program soon to test the policy, and countries such as Finland are considering the idea. Economists and columnists in the United States have been debating the idea in prominent forums in recent months.