How Andrew Yang changed the politics of direct payments Print this article From President Trump to Joe Biden, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, direct cash payments are having a moment of unique bipartisan support, and Andrew Yang has a compelling argument for taking credit for that. Yang’s $1,000-per-month, get-money-to-people Democratic presidential primary campaign, which ended just before the coronavirus pandemic prompted an economic crisis, may have been unexpectedly perfectly-timed advocacy that forever changed direct payment politics — and the legacy of his campaign is living on in continued direct-payment advocacy from Humanity Forward, the nonprofit organization that sprung from his campaign.