I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 654 

To require poverty impact statements for certain legislation. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 22, 2009 

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

Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require poverty impact statements for certain legislation. 

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 Impact Trig5 ger Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CERTAIN POVERTY IMPACT LEGISLATION SUBJECT 

7 TO POINT OF ORDER. 

8 Rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representa9 tives is amended by adding at the end the following new 

10 clause: 


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1 ‘‘ Certain legislation reported by committees 

2 ‘‘11. It shall not be in order to consider a bill or joint 

3 resolution of a public nature authorizing an appropriation 

4 of $10,000,000 or more, unless— 

5 ‘‘(a) the committee report accompanying the bill 

6 or joint resolution includes a CBO Poverty Index Di7 vision impact statement; or 

8 ‘‘(b) the chair of the committee reporting the 

9 bill or joint resolution submits such statement to be 

10 published in the Congressional Record before consid11 eration of the bill or joint resolution.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE POVERTY IM13 PACT DIVISION. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Congressional 

15 Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 602) is amended by adding 

16 at the end the following new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(h) CBO POVERTY IMPACT DIVISION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) CREATION.—There is established within 

19 the Office the CBO Poverty Impact Division (herein20 after in this subsection referred to as the ‘Division’). 

21 ‘‘(2) DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF

23 IMPACT STATEMENT.—When a chair of a com24 mittee of the House of Representatives submits 

25 a written request to the Division to prepare and 

26 submit to the committee a CBO Poverty Index 


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1 Division impact statement, the Division shall 

2 prepare and submit such statement to the com3 mittee not later than 30 days after such re4 quest. 

5 ‘‘(B) CONTENT OF IMPACT STATEMENT.— 

6 A CBO Poverty Index Division impact state7 ment shall include the following: 

8 ‘‘(i) A projected ratio equal to the 

9 amount of appropriations authorized in the 

10 bill or joint resolution that will benefit in11 dividuals and families below the poverty 

12 threshold over the total amount of appro13 priations authorized by the bill or joint res14 olution. 

15 ‘‘(ii) A projection of the number of in16 dividual and family incomes— 

17 ‘‘(I) that may decrease below the 

18 poverty threshhold because of the bill 

19 or joint resolution; and 

20 ‘‘(II) that may increase above the 

21 poverty threshhold because of the bill 

22 or joint resolution. 

23 ‘‘(iii) A projection as to how the legis24 lation improves access to basic human 


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1 services, including health care, housing, 

2 and education. 

3 ‘‘(C) POVERTY THRESHOLD DEFINED.—In 

4 this subsection, the term ‘poverty threshold’ 

5 means an income level below 200 percent of the 

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

7 Community Services Block Grant Act).’’. 

8 SEC. 4. EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS. 

9 Section 2 of this Act is enacted by the House of Rep10 resentatives— 

11 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 

12 the House of Representatives and as such it shall be 

13 considered as part of the rules of the House of Rep14 resentatives and such rules shall supersede other 

15 rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent 

16 therewith; and 

17 (2) with the full recognition of the constitu18 tional right of the House of Representatives to 

19 change such rules at any time, in the same manner, 

20 and to the same extent as in the case of any other 

21 rule of the House of Representatives. 

22 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

23 The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any 

24 bill or joint resolution reported by a committee of the 


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1 House of Representatives after the 90-day period begin2 ning on the date of enactment of this Act. 

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