Florida’s newest Congresswoman promises to push for guaranteed income for all
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick stakes her claim to the center-left lane.

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick
The new Congresswoman's 'People's Prosperity Plan' had been derided as an empty promise during the campaign.

Getting ready to return to her district for the first time as a member of the U.S. House, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick said Friday she is working on her promise to deliver every American adult a guaranteed income of $1,000 a month.

Cherfilus-McCormick was sworn in Tuesday as the newest member of Congress, representing Florida’s 20th Congressional District. She is taking the seat of former Rep. Alcee Hastings, who died in office last April.

Less than 48 hours into her truncated term, she said she has been meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus to work on an action plan for salvaging the voting rights bill that died in the Senate this week. And she’s started on an effort to enact her “People’s Prosperity Plan” that was a plank of her campaign.

The plan, if enacted, would mean those currently earning less than $75,000 a year would get the $1,000 per month allowance. During the campaign opponents derided the plan as an “empty promise” that would go nowhere in Congress. It was also the source of a lawsuit, as her former competitor, former Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness, said the prosperity plan amounted to a bribe-for-vote scheme.

“That lawsuit is not going anywhere,” said Cherfilus-McCormick, who is also a lawyer and CEO of Trinity Health Care.

She insists, however, that her prosperity plan is alive and well, even if there wasn’t enough political will to even keep the child tax credit going. She said she’s planning on signing onto U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s bill, introduced in July, that would distribute up to $1,200 a month to adults and $600 for kids.

“If her bill doesn’t move then we’ll introduce ours,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “We’re going to take affirmative steps.”

It might go through community initiative projects, as has been done in other communities like Atlanta, which this month started giving 300 people $500 a month for a year, she said.

“We’re pursuing this, seeing the best practices of all these pilot projects throughout the country,” she said.

She also sees great opportunities in the recently approved $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill for the constituents in her district, which straddles Broward and Palm Beach counties and is made up of many majority black neighborhoods.

“Right now, we have a real opportunity for small businesses to take part in the infrastructure bill — projects that will build the community,” she said. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”

Cherfilus-McCormick will be running again later this year in the midterm elections after winning the Special Election to fill the seat earlier this month.

Anne Geggis

Anne Geggis is a South Florida journalist who began her career in Vermont and has worked at the Sun-Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal and the Gainesville Sun covering government issues, health and education. She was a member of the Sun-Sentinel team that won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Parkland high school shooting. You can reach her on Twitter @AnneBoca or by emailing [email protected].


4 comments

  • just a comment

    January 22, 2022 at 12:52 pm

    is that after the 15 an hour you get the extra 12000 a year in tax money?and the 3000 extra per child too? work McDonald’s for 40 grand a year cool

  • just a comment

    January 24, 2022 at 6:54 am

    1,200 plus 600 does that include medical and a enormous food card? sounds better than a disability check most get or a life long retirement check some get.sure it is derided that is a lot of tax money coming from somebody.let me guess everyone will have a lawn care operation and collect.
    exactly what does a lot of work really mean.

  • Tinesely

    January 24, 2022 at 10:57 am

    this was what was stated on this her campaign signs and bill boards. More feebee’s to insure votes from those who make up the gibsme’s of our society.

  • The Swampfox

    January 24, 2022 at 10:59 am

    Where do these idiots come up with such hairbrained schemes? More important is how do these ignorant obtuse minorities look to manage such an economy with these scatterbrain ideas, the same ideas that’s created the very poor economy that put them at the bottom rungs of society! In essence, this woman is lining up all the indigents in a line for handouts, instead of showing them how to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and acquire more than a measly handout that’s no different than a drug dealer giving out samples of drugs’ to get the unknowingly hooked. YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE PROBLEM IS. IT’S WITH PEOPLE LIKE Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick AND THEIR BACKWOODS IDEAS!

Comments are closed.


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