II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2450 

To require the Bureau of the Census to conduct a survey to determine 

income and poverty levels in the United States in a manner that accounts 

for the receipt of Federal means-tested benefits, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2018 

Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland 

Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Bureau of the Census to conduct a survey 

to determine income and poverty levels in the United 

States in a manner that accounts for the receipt of 

Federal means-tested benefits, 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 ‘‘Poverty Measurement 

5 Improvement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IMPROVING THE MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY IN 

7 THE UNITED STATES. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) FEDERAL MEANS-TESTED BENEFIT.—The 

2 term ‘‘Federal means-tested benefit’’ means a ben3 efit, refundable tax credit, or other form of assist4 ance provided under any of the following programs: 

5 (A) CASH AND GENERAL PROGRAMS.— 

6 (i) Supplemental Security Income. 

7 (ii) Earned Income Tax Credit (re8 fundable portion). 

9 (iii) Additional Child Tax Credit. 

10 (iv) Temporary Assistance to Needy 

11 Families. 

12 (v) Title IV–E Foster Care. 

13 (vi) Title IV–E Adoption Assistance. 

14 (vii) Social Security Disability Insur15 ance. 

16 (B) MEDICAL.— 

17 (i) Medicaid. 

18 (ii) State Children’s Health Insurance 

19 Program. 

20 (iii) Refundable Premiums and Out of 

21 Pocket Subsidies under the Patient Protec22 tion and Affordable Health Care Act 

23 (PPACA). 

24 (C) FOOD.— 


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1 (i) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 

2 Food Program (Agriculture). 

3 (ii) Women, Infant and Children 

4 (WIC) Food Program (Agriculture). 

5 (iii) School Breakfast (Agriculture). 

6 (D) HOUSING.— 

7 (i) Section 8 Housing (HUD). 

8 (ii) Public Housing (HUD). 

9 (iii) Home Investment Partnership 

10 Program (HUD). 

11 (iv) Rural Housing Insurance Fund 

12 (Agriculture). 

13 (v) Rural Housing Service (Agri14 culture). 

15 (2) HOUSEHOLD.—The term ‘‘household’’ 

16 means a householder and one or more people related 

17 to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. 

18 (3) TOTAL FAMILY INCOME.—The term ‘‘total 

19 family income’’ means, with respect to a household, 

20 an amount equal to— 

21 (A) the sum of— 

22 (i) all money income (as defined by 

23 the Bureau of the Census) earned by the 

24 members of the household; and 


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1 (ii) the amount, or cash equivalent, of 

2 all Federal means-tested benefits received 

3 by the members of the household; minus 

4 (B) State and Federal income and payroll 

5 taxes attributable to the members of the house6 hold. 

7 (4) INCOME TAX DATA.—The term ‘‘income tax 

8 data’’ means return information disclosed to the Bu9 reau of the Census under section 6103(j)(1)(A) of 

10 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

11 (5) ADMINISTERING AGENCY.—The term ‘‘ad12 ministering agency’’ means a State or Federal agen13 cy responsible for administering a Federal means14 tested benefit, and includes the following agencies: 

15 (A) The Social Security Administration. 

16 (B) The Department of the Treasury. 

17 (C) The Department of Health and 

18 Human Services. 

19 (D) The Department of Housing and 

20 Urban Development. 

21 (E) The Department of Agriculture. 

22 (F) The Department of Justice. 

23 (6) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA24 TION.—The term ‘‘personally identifiable informa25 tion’’ means any information that identifies an indiVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:24 Feb 22, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2450.IS S2450

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1 vidual or could reasonably be used to identify an in2 dividual that is— 

3 (A) collected pursuant to a survey con4 ducted by the Bureau of the Census; or 

5 (B) disclosed to the Bureau of the Census 

6 by an administering agency for the purpose of 

7 carrying out subsection (b). 

8 (7) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

9 the Director of the Bureau of the Census. 

10 (b) NEW POVERTY MEASUREMENT LINKING SUR11 VEY, ADMINISTRATIVE, AND INCOME DATA.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each fiscal year during the 

13 period that begins with fiscal year 2019 and ends 

14 with fiscal year 2028, in order to more accurately 

15 determine the extent of poverty in the United States 

16 and the anti-poverty effectiveness of means-tested 

17 benefit and tax programs, the Director shall conduct 

18 a new survey of income and poverty in the United 

19 States, and shall supplement and verify the informa20 tion obtained pursuant to such survey using the fol21 lowing: 

22 (A) Data from the most recent available 

23 Current Population Survey. 

24 (B) Data furnished by administering agen25 cies. 


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1 (C) Income tax data. 

2 (2) DATA RELATED TO FORMERLY INCARCER3 ATED INDIVIDUALS.—The Director— 

4 (A) shall include, as part of the survey 

5 conducted under paragraph (1), questions re6 lated to whether an individual has previously 

7 been incarcerated or is on probation; and 

8 (B) shall collect data from the appropriate 

9 administering agencies with respect to the in10 come of, and Federal means-tested benefits re11 ceived by, individuals who have previously been 

12 incarcerated, or are on probation. 

13 (3) ADMINISTERING AGENCY DATA.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The head of each ad15 ministering agency shall make available to the 

16 Director such data (including income tax data) 

17 as the Director shall require for the purpose of 

18 carrying out this subsection. 

19 (B) PAYMENT OF EXPENSES.—The Direc20 tor shall pay for the data described in subpara21 graphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (1) in such 

22 amount, if any (not exceeding the cost of fur23 nishing the data), as may be determined by the 

24 head of the applicable agency that furnishes the 

25 data. 


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1 (4) PUBLICATION OF SURVEY DATA.— 

2 (A) SURVEY METHODS AND RESPONSES.— 

3 The Director of the Bureau of the Census shall 

4 publish the methods used to carry out the sur5 vey required under paragraph (1), the number 

6 of households surveyed, the rate of responses, 

7 and the extent of survey completion. 

8 (B) RATES AND OTHER DATA.— 

9 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the 

10 Bureau of the Census shall produce tables 

11 and graphs showing for each year the pov12 erty rates and related data calculated 

13 using the survey responses and other data 

14 collected under paragraph (1), including— 

15 (I) the total family income for 

16 survey respondents; 

17 (II) a breakdown of the amount 

18 of income taxes and payroll taxes paid 

19 by survey respondents; and 

20 (III) for 2018 and subsequent 

21 years, poverty rates calculated using 

22 updated poverty thresholds as de23 scribed in clause (ii). 

24 (ii) UPDATED POVERTY THRESH25 OLDS.—For 2019 and subsequent years, 


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1 the Director shall adjust the poverty 

2 thresholds used for determining poverty 

3 rates by using the personal consumer ex4 penditure price index (as published by the 

5 Bureau of Economic Analysis). 

6 (C) CREATION OF A PUBLIC DATABASE.— 

7 The Director shall create a database, available 

8 at the Director’s discretion to researchers who 

9 meet the security requirements described in 

10 subsection (c)(4), that contains— 

11 (i) data from the survey required 

12 under paragraph (1); and 

13 (ii) data described in subparagraphs 

14 (A) and (B) of paragraph (1). 

15 (D) NO PUBLICATION OF PERSONALLY

16 IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.—The Director 

17 shall ensure that no personally identifiable in18 formation is included in any publication of sur19 vey information or other data collected under 

20 this section, including the database created pur21 suant to subparagraph (C). 

22 (c) PROTECTION AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONALLY

23 IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The security, disclosure, and 

25 confidentiality provisions set forth in this Act and 


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1 sections 9 and 23 of title 13, United States Code, 

2 shall apply to personally identifiable information ob3 tained by the Bureau of the Census pursuant to this 

4 Act. 

5 (2) ASSIGNMENT OF RECORD IDENTIFICATION

6 KEYS.—All personally identifiable information shall 

7 be removed from individual records, which shall be 

8 given record identification keys for purposes of iden9 tification. 

10 (3) STAFF ACCESS TO PERSONALLY IDENTIFI11 ABLE INFORMATION.—An officer or employee of the 

12 Bureau of the Census or a representative from an 

13 administering agency may access personally identifi14 able information if such officer, employee, or rep15 resentative has the special sworn status require16 ments implemented by the Bureau of the Census 

17 under section 9 and section 23 of title 13, United 

18 States Code. 

19 (4) PUBLIC ACCESS TO PERSONALLY IDENTIFI20 ABLE INFORMATION.—The Director may disclose 

21 personally identifiable information to an individual 

22 who has special sworn status as implemented by the 

23 Bureau of the Census under section 9 and section 

24 23 of title 12, United States Code. 


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1 (5) PENALTIES.—Any individual who knowingly 

2 accesses or discloses personally identifiable informa3 tion in violation of this section shall be guilty of a 

4 felony and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in 

5 an amount of not more than $300,000 under title 

6 18, United States Code, or imprisoned for not more 

7 than five years, or both. 

8 (6) INADMISSIBILITY OF SURVEY DATA.—Data 

9 contained in a response to a survey conducted pur10 suant to subsection (b)(1) shall not be admissible as 

11 evidence in any proceeding of any court, agency, 

12 board, or other entity. 

13 (d) STATE REPORTING OF FEDERAL MEANS-TESTED

14 DATA.—Beginning with the first full calendar year that 

15 begins after the date of enactment of this Act, with respect 

16 to any Federal means-tested benefit that is administered 

17 at the State level by a State administering agency, such 

18 State administering agency shall submit each year to the 

19 Federal administering agency responsible for admin20 istering the benefit at the Federal level a report that iden21 tifies each household that received such benefits during 

22 such year by the Social Security number of the head of 

23 the household and the amount, or cash equivalent, of such 

24 benefit received by such household. 


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1 (e) COMPARISON OF INDIVIDUAL SURVEY DATA TO

2 CONSUMER EXPENDITURE SURVEY.—Beginning with the 

3 first full calendar year that begins after the date of enact4 ment of this Act and each year thereafter, the Bureau of 

5 the Census shall, in coordination with the Bureau of 

6 Labor Statistics, provide summary statistics comparing 

7 the income levels (constructed using all available adminis8 trative, income, and Current Population Survey data) of 

9 respondents to the Consumer Expenditure Survey con10 ducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to the consump11 tion habits of such respondents. 

12 (f) SENSE OF CONGRESS RELATING TO USING EX13 ISTING FUNDS.—It is the sense of Congress that no addi14 tional funds should be made available to carry out this 

15 section. 

Æ 


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