To me the ONLY way to do a universal income in the USA is everyone of legal age gets it and it is exactly the same for everyone regardless of how many kids you have etc.
If you start saying Bob gets more than Bill because Bob has more kids then we all know what will happen in a few short years. You are right once the "means testing" starts then it becomes "Social Engineering" and that always leads to disaster.
If you do a basic income for everyone and eliminate welfare foodstamps etc. what will happen is the government will be in constant search of the proper amount the Basic income should be. It will probably implode the system faster than anything else and sadly I feel imploding the federal boondoggle known as the Federal Reserve System and the Big Spending Congress and their muscle the IRS is the only way we will ever get Fiscal Discipline back in Federal Spending.
“To me the ONLY way to do a universal income in the USA is everyone of legal age gets it and it is exactly the same for everyone regardless of how many kids you have etc.”
Correct. I don’t know IF it would work, but it is the only way that is equitable. Again, though, it must be for citizens ONLY.