I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5069 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop for 

consideration of the Congress a poverty line for purposes of the Community Services Block Grant Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 13, 2019 

Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ (for herself, Ms. MENG, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. 

MOORE, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, and Ms. 

LEE of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to develop for consideration of the Congress a poverty 

line for purposes of the Community Services Block Grant 

Act, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘The Recognizing Pov5 erty Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ASSESSMENT OF THE ADEQUACY OF THE POVERTY 

2 LINE; DEVELOPMENT OF POVERTY LINE. 

3 (a) ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary of Health and 

4 Human Services, in collaboration with the Bureau of the 

5 Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shall make 

6 a contract with the Committee on National Statistics of 

7 the National Academy of Sciences to assess the adequacy 

8 of the poverty line (as defined in section 673(2) of the 

9 Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 9902(2))) as a measure of the resources families need to 

11 afford basic goods and services. 

12 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF POVERTY LINE.—The Sec13 retary of Health and Human Services, in collaboration 

14 with the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Labor 

15 Statistics, shall make a contract with the Committee on 

16 National Statistics of the National Academy of Sciences 

17 to propose a poverty guide for purposes of section 673(2) 

18 of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 9902(2)) that accounts for an up-to-date adequate family 

20 income level. Such poverty line shall be developed for ref21 erence family consisting of 2 adults and their 2 related 

22 children and shall be an amount equal to the income that 

23 would be sufficient to make ends meet, accounting for ex24 penditures on food, clothing, shelter, utilities, ‘‘new neces25 sities’’ such as internet, and other needs identified, modi26 fied as follows: 


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1 (1) Adjusted for family size using the best 

2 available equivalence scales that consider economies 

3 of scale. 

4 (2) Adjusted for differences in the cost of goods 

5 and services among States, sub-State non-metropoli6 tan areas, and metropolitan areas based on the best 

7 available data. 

8 (3) Adjusted to account for data on levels of 

9 spending on goods and services in prior years and 

10 adjusted for cost changes from said prior years to 

11 the current year. 

12 (4) Increased for needs related to health insur13 ance for family members, work expenses for the fam14 ily, and child care needs for each child under the age 

15 of 13 in the family, including identification and con16 sideration of ‘‘new necessities’’ such as internet ac17 cess and funds needed to secure children’s equal 

18 educational opportunity. 

19 Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, 

20 the poverty line proposed under this subsection shall not 

21 be less than the poverty line then in effect under such sec22 tion. 

23 (c) REQUIRED FACTORS.—For purposes of sub24 section (b), the Secretary shall consider— 


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1 (1) relevant empirical data on prevalence at 

2 various income levels of material hardships such as 

3 food— 

4 (A) insecurity, 

5 (B) falling behind on rent, mortgage, or 

6 utility bills, eviction or overcrowding, and 

7 (C) experiencing homelessness or living 

8 doubled up in another person’s home, 

9 (2) past Lower Living Standards implemented 

10 by the Department of Labor, 

11 (3) the supplemental poverty measure of the 

12 Bureau of the Census, 

13 (4) the Self Sufficiency Standards initially de14 veloped by Diana Pearce and Wider Opportunities 

15 for Women, 

16 (5) the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and 

17 Program Participation, and 

18 (6) other standards of income adequacy created 

19 by experts and public commissions. 

20 (d) PUBLICATION.—The poverty line proposed under 

21 this section shall be updated and published annually. 

Æ 


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