Providing $1,000 per month to every American would cost the US about 20% of GDP.

Calculate $1,000 × 12 months × the US population in 2022 (about 330–335 million), then divide by 2022 nominal US GDP from the BEA. The claim says about 20%. True: the result is 18–22% of GDP. Mostly true: the result is 15% to under 18%, or above 22% up to 25%. Mostly false: the result is 10% to under 15%, or above 25% up to 30%. False: the result is below 10% or above 30%.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Gross Domestic Product, Fourth Quarter and Year 2022 (Second Estimate) U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis · 4 October 2023

   “Current‑dollar GDP increased 9.2 percent, or $2.15 trillion, in 2022 to a level of $25.46 trillion, compared with an increase of 10.7 percent, or $2.25 trillion, in 2021 (tables 1 and 3).”

2. E2 Growth in U.S. Population Shows Early Indication of Recovery Amid COVID-19 Pandemic U.S. Census Bureau · 22 December 2022

   “After a historically low rate of change between 2020 and 2021, the U.S. resident population increased by 0.4%, or 1,256,003, to 333,287,557 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2022 national and state population estimates”

3. E3 The Hidden Costs of a Universal Basic Income Mises Institute (Mises Wire) · 10 October 2019

   “So we get a total cost of $250 billion monthly and $3 trillion annually. It would amount to about 14 percent of US GDP, or 42 percent of total government spending, or 73 percent of the federal outlays.”

4. E4 Five Problems with Universal Basic Income Third Way · 24 May 2018

   “Almost two-thirds of the population, or 200 million people, would receive a monthly UBI check for $1,000, with a cost of approximately $2.4 trillion every year, or one-eighth of GDP.”

The Census Bureau puts the 2022 US resident population at 333,287,557 (E2). At $12,000 a year per person, that comes to about $4.00 trillion. The BEA reports 2022 nominal GDP as $25.46 trillion (E1), so the cost is about 15.7% of GDP. Under the criteria, that falls in the mostly-true band (15% to under 18%), not the 18–22% band needed for true.