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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1027

To expand the purposes of the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families to include poverty reduction, and

to make grants available under the program for that purpose.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 13, 2001

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself and Mr. WELLSTONE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To expand the purposes of the program of block grants

to States for temporary assistance for needy families

to include poverty reduction, and to make grants available under the program for that purpose.

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 ‘‘Child Poverty Reduc5 tion Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL PURPOSE OF PROGRAM OF BLOCK

2 GRANTS TO STATES FOR TEMPORARY ASSIST3 ANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES.

4 Section 401(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

5 601(a)) is amended—

6 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

7 (3);

8 (2) by striking the period at the end of para9 graph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

10 (3) by adding at the end the following:

11 ‘‘(5) reduce poverty of families with children in

12 the United States.’’.

13 SEC. 3. ADDITION OF CHILD POVERTY REDUCTION BONUS

14 GRANTS TO TANF PROGRAM.

15 Section 403(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

16 603(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

17 ‘‘(6) BONUS TO REWARD STATES THAT REDUCE

18 CHILD POVERTY.—

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Beginning with fiscal

20 year 2003, the Secretary shall make a grant

21 pursuant to this paragraph to each State for

22 each fiscal year for which the State is a quali23 fied child poverty reduction State.

24 ‘‘(B) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—

25 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to this

26 subparagraph, the amount of the grant to
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1 be made to a qualified child poverty reduc2 tion State for a fiscal year shall be an

3 amount equal to—

4 ‘‘(I) the number of children who

5 had not attained 18 years of age by

6 the end of the then most recently

7 completed calendar year and who re8 sided in the State as of the end of

9 such calendar year, divided by the

10 number of such children who resided

11 in the United States as of the end of

12 such calendar year; multiplied by

13 ‘‘(II) the amount appropriated

14 pursuant to subparagraph (F) for the

15 fiscal year.

16 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATIONS.—

17 ‘‘(I) MINIMUM GRANT.—The

18 amount of the grant to be made to a

19 qualified child poverty reduction State

20 for a fiscal year shall be not less than

21 $1,000,000.

22 ‘‘(II) MAXIMUM GRANT.—The

23 amount of the grant to be made to a

24 qualified child poverty reduction State

25 for a fiscal year shall not exceed an
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1 amount equal to 5 percent of the

2 State family assistance grant for the

3 fiscal year.

4 ‘‘(iii) PRO RATA INCREASE.—If the

5 amount available for grants under this

6 paragraph for a fiscal year is greater than

7 the total amount of payments otherwise re8 quired to be made under this paragraph

9 for the fiscal year, then the amount other10 wise payable to any State for the fiscal

11 year under this paragraph shall, subject to

12 clause (ii)(II), be increased by such equal

13 percentage as may be necessary to ensure

14 that the total of the amounts payable for

15 the fiscal year under this paragraph equals

16 the amount available for the grants.

17 ‘‘(iv) PRO RATA REDUCTION.—If the

18 amount available for grants under this

19 paragraph for a fiscal year is less than the

20 total amount of payments otherwise re21 quired to be made under this paragraph

22 for the fiscal year, then the amount other23 wise payable to any State for the fiscal

24 year under this paragraph shall, subject to

25 clause (ii)(I), be reduced by such equal
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1 percentage as may be necessary to ensure

2 that the total of the amounts payable for

3 the fiscal year under this paragraph equals

4 the amount available for the grants.

5 ‘‘(C) USE OF GRANT.—A State to which a

6 grant is made under this paragraph shall use

7 the grant for any purpose for which a grant

8 made under this part may be used.

9 ‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph:

10 ‘‘(i) QUALIFIED CHILD POVERTY RE11 DUCTION STATE.—The term ‘qualified

12 child poverty reduction State’ means, with

13 respect to a fiscal year, a State if—

14 ‘‘(I) the child poverty rate

15 achieved by the State for the then

16 most recently completed calendar year

17 for which such information is avail18 able is less than the lowest child pov19 erty rate achieved by the State during

20 the applicable period; and

21 ‘‘(II) the average depth of child

22 poverty in the State for the then most

23 recently completed calendar year for

24 which such information is available is

25 not greater than the average depth of
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1 child poverty in the State for the cal2 endar year that precedes such then

3 most recently completed calendar

4 year.

5 ‘‘(ii) APPLICABLE PERIOD.—In clause

6 (i), the term ‘applicable period’ means,

7 with respect to a State and the calendar

8 year referred to in clause (i)(I), the period

9 that—

10 ‘‘(I) begins with the calendar

11 year that, as of October 1, 2002, pre12 cedes the then most recently com13 pleted calendar year for which such

14 information is available; and

15 ‘‘(II) ends with the calendar year

16 that precedes the calendar year re17 ferred to clause (i)(I).

18 ‘‘(iii) CHILD POVERTY RATE.—The

19 term ‘child poverty rate’ means, with re20 spect to a State and a calendar year, the

21 percentage of children residing in the State

22 during the calendar year whose family in23 come for the calendar year is less than the

24 poverty line then applicable to the family.
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1 ‘‘(iv) AVERAGE DEPTH OF CHILD POV2 ERTY.—The term ‘average depth of child

3 poverty’ means with respect to a State and

4 a calendar year, the average dollar amount

5 by which family income is exceeded by the

6 poverty line, among children in the State

7 whose family income for the calendar year

8 is less than the applicable poverty line.

9 ‘‘(v) POVERTY LINE.—The term ‘pov10 erty line’ has the meaning given the term

11 in section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget

12 Reconciliation Act of 1981, including any

13 revision required by such section applicable

14 to a family of the size involved.

15 ‘‘(E) FAMILY INCOME DETERMINATIONS.—

16 For purposes of this paragraph, family income

17 includes cash income, child support payments,

18 government cash payments, and benefits under

19 the Food Stamp Act of 1977 that are received

20 by any family member, and family income shall

21 be determined after payment of all taxes and

22 receipt of any tax refund or rebate by any fam23 ily member.

24 ‘‘(F) APPROPRIATIONS.—
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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Out of any money

2 in the Treasury of the United States not

3 otherwise appropriated, there are appro4 priated for fiscal year 2003 and each fiscal

5 year thereafter $150,000,000 for grants

6 under this paragraph.

7 ‘‘(ii) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made

8 available under clause (i) shall remain

9 available until expended.’’.

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