Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) said he believes the federal government can pay for $14 trillion in reparations by spending it “into existence,” borrowing strategies from recent expensive government expenditures.

The pricey federal reparations proposal for black people who are descendants of slaves was introduced in May 2023 by Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) and nine other House Democrats, arguing the country has a “moral and legal obligation to provide reparations” for past enslavement of black people. Bowman told the Journal News that Congress can pay for the program similar to COVID-19 relief programs in 2020 and 2021.

“When COVID was destroying us, we invested in the American people in a way that kept the economy afloat,” Bowman told the outlet. “The government can invest the same way in reparations without raising taxes on anyone.”

The New York Democrat also told the outlet that the government spent COVID-19 funds into existence and that Congress could do it for reparations.

“Where did the money come from?” Bowman added. “We spent it into existence.”

Bowman also said that payments can be made over time, arguing the $14 trillion does not need to be paid “in one shot.”

“It might be possible for it to be paid out over 5 or 10 or 20 years. You could take that $333,000 and break it up into monthly checks over X amount of time,” he told the outlet. “There are creative ways to do the right thing and do what needs to be done.”

The bill calls for the federal government to compensate “descendants of enslaved Black people and people of African descent in the United States to account for the harms of chattel slavery, the cumulative damages of enslavement, and the epochs of legal and de facto segregation.”

The authors of the bill argue that “the economy of the United States, in both the North and South, flourished as a result of Black trafficking, torture, and exploitation.”

Bush argued that the bill would help start a movement toward a “national reckoning.”

“Reparations are ultimately about respect, reconciliation, and healing, and the hope that one day Americans of all backgrounds can walk together toward a more just future. Congress can start a movement toward the national reckoning we need to build a bridge for racial divides,” Bush said at a press conference in May 2023.

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Several states and cities have considered reparations payments for black descendants of slaves in recent years, with California and New York having some of the most prominent proposals.

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) signed a bill creating a task force to evaluate reparations for descendants of slaves in December, saying at the time that New Yorkers can “be the patriots and rebuke, and not excuse, our role in benefiting from the institution of slavery.”