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Calendar No. 110 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1084 

To eliminate child poverty, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 19, 2005 

Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read the first time 

MAY 20, 2005 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

A BILL

To eliminate child poverty, 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 ‘‘End Child Poverty 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 
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1 (1) Nearly 13,000,000, or nearly 1 in 5, chil2 dren in the United States who are younger than 18 

3 live below the poverty line. 

4 (2) The parents of poor children are playing by 

5 the rules by working to support their families. De6 spite their efforts, many of these parents still cannot 

7 help their children get ahead, since 7 out of 10 poor 

8 children live in a working family and almost 1 poor 

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

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

11 non-poor children to suffer stunted growth or lead 

12 poisoning, or to be kept back in school. Poor chil13 dren score significantly lower on reading, mathe14 matics, and vocabulary tests when compared with 

15 otherwise similar non-poor children. More than half 

16 of poor people in the United States, including poor 

17 children, experience serious deprivations during the 

18 year, including lack of food, utility shutoffs, crowded 

19 or substandard housing, or lack of a stove or refrig20 erator. 

21 (4)(A) Eighteen percent of children are hungry 

22 or on the verge of hunger, largely because they are 

23 living in poverty. 

24 (B) Hungry children— 
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1 (i) lack nutrients vital to healthy brain de2 velopment; 

3 (ii) have difficulty focusing their attention 

4 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, and often 

9 suffer from obesity. 

10 (5) Child poverty has risen significantly, by 

11 1,300,000 since 2000. 

12 (6) The poverty rate for children in the United 

13 States is substantially higher than that in other 

14 major industrialized nations. 

15 (7) Children in the United States are more like16 ly to live in poverty than any other age group in the 

17 United States. 

18 (8) African-American and Latino children are 

19 much more likely to live in poverty than White chil20 dren. One third of African-American children are 

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

22 (9) Great Britain made a public commitment to 

23 cut child poverty in half in 10 years, and end child 

24 poverty by 2020, and it has already successfully lift25 ed 2,000,000 children out of poverty. 
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1 (10) Poverty is a moral issue and Congress has 

2 a moral obligation to address it. 

3 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

4 The purpose of this Act is to set a national goal of 

5 cutting child poverty in half within a decade, and elimi6 nating child poverty entirely as soon as possible. 

7 SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN BY CHILD POVERTY ELIMI8 NATION BOARD. 

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

10 be known as the Child Poverty Elimination Board (re11 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Board’’). 

12 (b) COMPOSITION.— 

13 (1) APPOINTMENTS.—The Board shall be com14 posed of 12 voting members, to be appointed not 

15 later than 60 days after the date of enactment of 

16 this Act, as follows: 

17 (A) SENATORS.—One Senator shall be ap18 pointed by the majority leader of the Senate, 

19 and one Senator shall be appointed by the mi20 nority leader of the Senate. 

21 (B) MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REP22 RESENTATIVES.—One Member of the House of 

23 Representatives shall be appointed by the 

24 Speaker of the House of Representatives, and 

25 one Member of the House of Representatives 
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1 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the 

2 House of Representatives. 

3 (C) ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.— 

4 (i) APPOINTMENT.—Two members 

5 each shall be appointed by— 

6 (I) the Speaker of the House of 

7 Representatives; 

8 (II) the majority leader of the 

9 Senate; 

10 (III) the minority leader of the 

11 House of Representatives; and 

12 (IV) the minority leader of the 

13 Senate. 

14 (ii) EXPERTISE.—Members appointed 

15 under this subparagraph shall be appointed 

16 on the basis of demonstrated expertise in 

17 child poverty issues. 

18 (2) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.—

19 Members shall be appointed for the life of the 

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

21 the manner in which the original appointment was 

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

23 remaining members to execute the duties of the 

24 Board. 
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1 (3) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRMAN.—The 

2 Board shall elect a chairperson and a vice chair3 person from among the members of the Board. 

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

5 later than 30 days after the date on which all mem6 bers are appointed, and the Board shall meet there7 after at the call of the chairperson or vice chair8 person or a majority of the members. 

9 (c) PLAN AND REPORT.— 

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

11 develop a plan for cutting child poverty in half with12 in a decade, and eliminating child poverty entirely as 

13 soon as possible. The plan shall include rec14 ommendations for allocations of funds from the 

15 Child Poverty Elimination Trust Fund established in 

16 section 9511 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 

17 to carry out the plan. 

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

19 date of enactment of this Act, the Board shall pre20 pare and submit a report containing the plan to the 

21 Committee on Education and the Workforce of the 

22 House of Representatives, the Committee on Health, 

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

24 the President. 

25 (d) POWERS.— 
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1 (1) HEARINGS AND SESSIONS.—The Board may 

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

3 places, take such testimony, and receive such evi4 dence as the Board considers appropriate. The 

5 Board may administer oaths or affirmations to wit6 nesses appearing before it. 

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

8 secure directly from any Federal agency information 

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

10 if the information may be disclosed under section 

11 552 of title 5, United States Code. Subject to the 

12 previous sentence, on the request of the chairperson 

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

14 agency shall furnish such information to the Board. 

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

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

17 agency may make available to the Board any of the 

18 facilities and services of such agency. 

19 (4) PERSONNEL FROM OTHER AGENCIES.—On 

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

21 agency may detail any of the personnel of such agen22 cy to serve as an Executive Director of the Board 

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

24 Board. Any detail shall not interrupt or otherwise 
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1 affect the civil service status or privileges of the 

2 Federal employee. 

3 (5) VOLUNTARY SERVICE.—Notwithstanding 

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

5 chairperson of the Board may accept for the Board 

6 voluntary services provided by a member of the 

7 Board. 

8 (e) COMPENSATION.— 

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

10 without compensation. 

11 (2) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Members of the 

12 Board shall be allowed reasonable travel expenses, 

13 including a per diem allowance, in accordance with 

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

15 performing duties of the Board. 

16 SEC. 5. ISSUANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PLAN. 

17 (a) ISSUANCE.—Not later than 90 days after receiv18 ing the report containing the plan developed by the Board 

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

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

21 within a decade, and eliminating child poverty entirely as 

22 soon as possible. The plan shall include specifications and 

23 allocations of funds to be made from the Child Poverty 

24 Elimination Trust Fund, to carry out the plan. 
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1 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO BOARD PLAN.—The plan 

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

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

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

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

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

7 effective for eliminating child poverty. 

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

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

10 ensure the implementation of the plan issued under sub11 section (a), and shall work with Congress to ensure fund12 ing for the implementation of the plan. 

13 SEC. 6. IMPOSITION OF INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX SUR14 CHARGE TO FUND CHILD POVERTY ELIMI15 NATION FUND. 

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

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

18 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub19 section: 

20 ‘‘(j) ADDITIONAL INCOME TAX.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the adjusted gross in22 come of an individual exceeds the threshold amount, 

23 the tax imposed by this section (determined without 

24 regard to this subsection) shall be increased by an 

25 amount equal to 1 percent of so much of the ad-
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1 justed gross income as exceeds the threshold 

2 amount. 

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

4 this subsection, the term ‘threshold amount’ 

5 means— 

6 ‘‘(A) $1,000,000 in the case of a joint re7 turn, and 

8 ‘‘(B) $500,000 in the case of any other re9 turn. 

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

11 TRUSTS.—This subsection shall not apply to an es12 tate or trust.’’. 

13 (b) COORDINATION WITH MINIMUM TAX.—Section 

14 55(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (defining reg15 ular tax) is amended by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

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

17 following new paragraph: 

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

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

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

21 (c) ESTABLISHMENT OF CHILD POVERTY ELIMI22 NATION FUND.— 

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

24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to 
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1 trust fund code) is amended by adding at the end 

2 the following: 

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

4 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab5 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 

6 to be known as the ‘Child Poverty Elimination Trust 

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

8 consisting of such amounts as may be appropriated or 

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

10 section 9602(b). 

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

12 appropriated to the Trust Fund an amount equivalent to 

13 the increase in revenues received in the Treasury as the 

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

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

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

17 by appropriation Acts, to make expenditures in connection 

18 with Federal programs designed to carry out the plan 

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

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

21 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 

22 sections for subchapter A of chapter 98 of such 

23 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. 

Calendar No. 110 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1084 

A BILL

To eliminate child poverty, and for other purposes. 

MAY 20, 2005 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar