Paul Ryan and Megan Ford Launch RISE Safety Net Pilots

Paul Ryan and Megan Ford launched the Resources for Independence, Stability and Employment (RISE) pilot programs to modernize the American social safety net. The initiative seeks to replace the current fragmented system of benefits with a single, flexible benefit that phases down gradually as a family's income increases.

Ryan and Ford argue that the existing system creates benefit cliffs that penalize families for increasing their earnings. To address this, the RISE pilots will utilize privacy-protected technology to adjust assistance in real-time. Participation in the program requires work, education, or training, reviving the work-first principles of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

The authors present this model as a direct alternative to universal basic income. They claim that universal basic income is prohibitively expensive and reduces labor-force participation, citing research from the American Enterprise Institute that found lower employment rates in guaranteed-income experiments.