II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2504 

To eliminate child poverty. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 4, 2006 

Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To eliminate child poverty. 

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 ‘‘End Child Poverty 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) More than 13,000,000 children in the 

9 United States who are younger than 18 live below 

10 the poverty line. 

11 (2) Most parents of poor children are playing 

12 by the rules by working to support their families. 


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1 Despite their efforts, many of these parents still 

2 cannot help their children get ahead. Seven out of 

3 10 poor children live in a working family and 1 poor 

4 child in 3 lives with a full-time year-around worker. 

5 (3) Poor children are at least twice as likely as 

6 non-poor children to suffer stunted growth or lead 

7 poisoning, or to be kept back in school. Poor chil8 dren score significantly lower on reading, mathe9 matics, and vocabulary tests when compared with 

10 otherwise similar non-poor children. In more than 

11 half of poor households with children in the United 

12 States, the members of the households experience se13 rious deprivations during the year, including lack of 

14 adequate food, utility shutoffs, crowded or sub15 standard housing, or lack of needed medical care. 

16 (4) Over 8,000,000 children under age 18 in 

17 the United States lack health insurance. With a 

18 2004 uninsured rate of 18.9 percent, poor children 

19 are more likely to be uninsured than children gen20 erally. 

21 (5)(A) The members of 1 in 6 households with 

22 children in the United States are hungry or on the 

23 verge of hunger, largely due to inadequate household 

24 income. 

25 (B) Hungry children— 


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1 (i) tend to lack nutrients vital to healthy 

2 brain development; 

3 (ii) tend to have difficulty focusing their 

4 attention and concentrating in school; and 

5 (iii) often have greater emotional and be6 havioral problems, have weaker immune sys7 tems, and are more susceptible to infections, in8 cluding anemia, than other children. 

9 (6) Child poverty has risen significantly, by 

10 1,440,000 since 2000. 

11 (7) The poverty rate for children in the United 

12 States is substantially higher than that in most 

13 other wealthy industrialized nations. 

14 (8) Children in the United States are more like15 ly to live in poverty than any other age group in the 

16 United States. 

17 (9) African-American and Latino children are 

18 much more likely to live in poverty than White chil19 dren. One third of African-American children are 

20 low-income, as are nearly a third of Latino children. 

21 (10) Great Britain made a public commitment 

22 to cut child poverty in half in 10 years, and end 

23 child poverty by 2020, and it has already success24 fully lifted 2,000,000 children out of poverty. 


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1 (11) Poverty is a moral issue and Congress has 

2 a moral obligation to address it. 

3 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

4 The purposes of this Act are— 

5 (1) to set a national goal of cutting child pov6 erty in half within a decade, and eliminating child 

7 poverty entirely as soon as possible; and 

8 (2) to establish a Child Poverty Elimination 

9 Trust Fund as an initial measure to fund Federal 

10 programs to achieve that goal. 

11 SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN BY CHILD POVERTY ELIMI12 NATION BOARD. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a board to 

14 be known as the Child Poverty Elimination Board (re15 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Board’’). 

16 (b) COMPOSITION.— 

17 (1) APPOINTMENTS.—The Board shall be com18 posed of 12 voting members, to be appointed not 

19 later than 60 days after the date of enactment of 

20 this Act, as follows: 

21 (A) SENATORS.—One Senator shall be ap22 pointed by the majority leader of the Senate, 

23 and one Senator shall be appointed by the mi24 nority leader of the Senate. 


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1 (B) MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REP2 RESENTATIVES.—One Member of the House of 

3 Representatives shall be appointed by the 

4 Speaker of the House of Representatives, and 

5 one Member of the House of Representatives 

6 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the 

7 House of Representatives. 

8 (C) ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.— 

9 (i) APPOINTMENT.—Two members 

10 each shall be appointed by— 

11 (I) the Speaker of the House of 

12 Representatives; 

13 (II) the majority leader of the 

14 Senate; 

15 (III) the minority leader of the 

16 House of Representatives; and 

17 (IV) the minority leader of the 

18 Senate. 

19 (ii) EXPERTISE.—Members appointed 

20 under this subparagraph shall be appointed 

21 on the basis of demonstrated expertise in 

22 child poverty issues. 

23 (2) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.— 

24 Members shall be appointed for the life of the 

25 Board. Any vacancy on the Board shall be filled in 


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1 the manner in which the original appointment was 

2 made. The vacancy shall not affect the power of the 

3 remaining members to execute the duties of the 

4 Board. 

5 (3) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRMAN.—The 

6 Board shall elect a chairperson and a vice chair7 person from among the members of the Board. 

8 (4) MEETINGS.—The Board shall first meet not 

9 later than 30 days after the date on which all mem10 bers are appointed, and the Board shall meet there11 after at the call of the chairperson or vice chair12 person or a majority of the members. 

13 (c) PLAN AND REPORT.— 

14 (1) PLAN.—The Board shall meet regularly to 

15 develop a plan for cutting child poverty in half with16 in a decade, and eliminating child poverty entirely as 

17 soon as possible. The plan shall include rec18 ommendations for allocations of funds from the 

19 Child Poverty Elimination Trust Fund established in 

20 section 9511 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 

21 to carry out the plan. 

22 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act, the Board shall pre24 pare and submit a report containing the plan to the 

25 Committee on Education and the Workforce of the 


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1 House of Representatives, the Committee on Health, 

2 Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and 

3 the President. 

4 (d) POWERS.— 

5 (1) HEARINGS AND SESSIONS.—The Board may 

6 hold such hearings, sit and act at such times and 

7 places, take such testimony, and receive such evi8 dence as the Board considers appropriate. The 

9 Board may administer oaths or affirmations to wit10 nesses appearing before it. 

11 (2) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—The Board may 

12 secure directly from any Federal agency information 

13 necessary to enable the Board to carry out this Act, 

14 if the information may be disclosed under section 

15 552 of title 5, United States Code. Subject to the 

16 previous sentence, on the request of the chairperson 

17 or vice chairperson of the Board, the head of such 

18 agency shall furnish such information to the Board. 

19 (3) USE OF FACILITIES AND SERVICES.—Upon 

20 the request of the Board, the head of any Federal 

21 agency may make available to the Board any of the 

22 facilities and services of such agency. 

23 (4) PERSONNEL FROM OTHER AGENCIES.—On 

24 the request of the Board, the head of any Federal 

25 agency may detail any of the personnel of such agenVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:35 Apr 05, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2504.IS S2504

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1 cy to serve as an Executive Director of the Board 

2 or assist the Board in carrying out the duties of the 

3 Board. Any detail shall not interrupt or otherwise 

4 affect the civil service status or privileges of the 

5 Federal employee. 

6 (5) VOLUNTARY SERVICE.—Notwithstanding 

7 section 1342 of title 31, United States Code, the 

8 chairperson of the Board may accept for the Board 

9 voluntary services provided by a member of the 

10 Board. 

11 (e) COMPENSATION.— 

12 (1) PAY.—Members of the Board shall serve 

13 without compensation. 

14 (2) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Members of the 

15 Board shall be allowed reasonable travel expenses, 

16 including a per diem allowance, in accordance with 

17 section 5703 of title 5, United States Code, when 

18 performing duties of the Board. 

19 SEC. 5. ISSUANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PLAN. 

20 (a) ISSUANCE.—Not later than 90 days after receiv21 ing the report containing the plan developed by the Board 

22 under section 4(c), the President shall review the report, 

23 and shall issue a plan for cutting child poverty in half 

24 within a decade, and eliminating child poverty entirely as 

25 soon as possible. The plan shall include specifications and 


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1 allocations of funds to be made from the Child Poverty 

2 Elimination Trust Fund, to carry out the plan. 

3 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO BOARD PLAN.—The plan 

4 issued under subsection (a) shall be the same as the plan 

5 developed by the Board under section 4(c) except insofar 

6 as the President may determine, for good cause shown and 

7 stated together with the plan issued under subsection (a), 

8 that a modification of the Board’s plan would be more 

9 effective for eliminating child poverty. 

10 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 90 days after 

11 issuing a plan under subsection (a), the President shall 

12 ensure the implementation of the plan issued under sub13 section (a), and shall work with Congress to ensure fund14 ing for the implementation of the plan. 

15 SEC. 6. IMPOSITION OF INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX SUR16 CHARGE TO FUND CHILD POVERTY ELIMI17 NATION FUND. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1 of the Internal Revenue 

19 Code of 1986 (relating to imposition of tax on individuals) 

20 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub21 section: 

22 ‘‘(j) ADDITIONAL INCOME TAX.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the adjusted gross in24 come of an individual exceeds the threshold amount, 

25 the tax imposed by this section (determined without 


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1 regard to this subsection) shall be increased by an 

2 amount equal to 1 percent of so much of the ad3 justed gross income as exceeds the threshold 

4 amount. 

5 ‘‘(2) THRESHOLD AMOUNTS.—For purposes of 

6 this subsection, the term ‘threshold amount’ 

7 means— 

8 ‘‘(A) $1,000,000 in the case of a joint re9 turn, and 

10 ‘‘(B) $500,000 in the case of any other re11 turn. 

12 ‘‘(3) TAX NOT TO APPLY TO ESTATES AND

13 TRUSTS.—This subsection shall not apply to an es14 tate or trust.’’. 

15 (b) COORDINATION WITH MINIMUM TAX.—Section 

16 55(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (defining reg17 ular tax) is amended by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

18 paragraph (4) and by inserting after paragraph (2) the 

19 following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION WITH MINIMUM TAX.— 

21 Solely for purposes of this section, section 1(j) shall 

22 not apply in computing the regular tax.’’. 

23 (c) ESTABLISHMENT OF CHILD POVERTY ELIMI24 NATION FUND.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 98 

2 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to 

3 trust fund code) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 9511. CHILD POVERTY ELIMINATION TRUST FUND. 

6 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab7 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 

8 to be known as the ‘Child Poverty Elimination Trust 

9 Fund’ (referred to in this section as the ‘Trust Fund’), 

10 consisting of such amounts as may be appropriated or 

11 credited to the Trust Fund as provided in this section or 

12 section 9602(b). 

13 ‘‘(b) TRANSFERS TO TRUST FUND.—There is hereby 

14 appropriated to the Trust Fund an amount equivalent to 

15 the increase in revenues received in the Treasury as the 

16 result of the surtax imposed under section 1(j). 

17 ‘‘(c) DISTRIBUTION OF AMOUNTS IN TRUST FUND.— 

18 Amounts in the Trust Fund shall be available, as provided 

19 by appropriation Acts, to make expenditures in connection 

20 with Federal programs designed to carry out the plan 

21 issued by the President under section 5 of the End Child 

22 Poverty Act, to eliminate child poverty.’’. 

23 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 

24 sections for subchapter A of chapter 98 of such 

25 Code is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘Sec. 9511. Child Poverty Elimination Trust Fund.’’. 


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1 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

3 December 31, 2005. 

4 (e) SECTION 15 NOT TO APPLY.—The amendment 

5 made by subsection (a) shall not be treated as a change 

6 in a rate of tax for purposes of section 15 of the Internal 

7 Revenue Code of 1986. 

Æ 


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