I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1558 
To reduce child poverty in the United States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 3, 2021 
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. ROY-
BAL-ALLARD, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. RUSH, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. 
JACOBS of California, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. BASS, Ms. WIL-
LIAMS of Georgia, and Mr. POCAN) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition 
to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To reduce child poverty in the United States, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Poverty Reduc-
tion Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. CHILD POVERTY GOAL AND ACCOUNTABILITY. 
Title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 
et seq.) is amended by inserting after part B the following: 
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‘‘PART C—CHILD POVERTY ACCOUNTABILITY 
MEASURE 
‘‘SEC. 441. NATIONAL GOAL TO CUT CHILD POVERTY BY 
HALF. 
‘‘(a) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 
United States to reduce the number of children living in 
poverty in the United States by half in 10 years. 
‘‘(b) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 
the Congress that an effort to reach the goal described 
in subsection (a) shall include reducing the number of chil-
dren in deep poverty as well as reducing child poverty 
among racial or ethnic groups with disparate poverty 
rates. 
‘‘SEC. 442. ESTABLISHMENT OF ANNUAL REPORTING. 
‘‘(a) ANCHORED SUPPLEMENTAL POVERTY MEAS-
URE.—The Secretary shall enter into an agreement with 
the Bureau of the Census to report an anchored Supple-
mental Poverty Measure for individuals who have not at-
tained 18 years of age, annually beginning with calendar 
year 2021. Beginning with the report for calendar year 
2022, the report shall be based on poverty thresholds 
which are adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price 
Index for all-urban consumers (as published by the De-
partment of Labor). This subsection shall not be inter-
preted to require or authorize the replacement of any 
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other calculation or measure reported by the Bureau of 
the Census. 
‘‘(b) TIMING OF RELEASE OF CURRENT POPULATION 
SURVEY ANNUAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SUPPLEMENT 
MICRODATA.—The Bureau of the Census shall release the 
Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic 
Supplement microdata for each year as a single file con-
taining the anchored Supplemental Poverty Measure and 
any other poverty rates the Bureau of the Census reports. 
The file shall be released at the same time as the Bureau 
of the Census report on Income, Poverty, and Health In-
surance Coverage in the United States. That report, or 
companion reports, should include poverty statistics and 
thresholds for the anchored Supplemental Poverty Meas-
ure and any other measures the Bureau of the Census re-
ports. 
‘‘(c) REPORTING
IN RELATION
TO
THE TERRI-
TORIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall enter 
into an agreement with the Bureau of the Census to 
develop data to report an anchored Supplemental 
Poverty Measure for Puerto Rico, Guam, the United 
States Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Is-
lands, and American Samoa, as part of the annual 
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report required by subsection (a), not later than the 
close of fiscal year 2023. 
‘‘(2) REPORT REQUIRED IF COMPLIANCE IS NOT 
FEASIBLE.—If the Secretary determines that it will 
not be feasible to comply with all or part of para-
graph (1), the Secretary shall submit to the Con-
gress, not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this section, a report that explains 
what is not feasible, why it is not feasible, and in-
cludes details on what, if anything, would be needed 
to enable such compliance and by what date compli-
ance could be achieved. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF AP-
PROPRIATIONS.—To carry out this subsection, there 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 
a total of not more than $2,000,000 for fiscal years 
2021 through 2023. 
‘‘(d) IMPROVING INCOME DATA FOR USE IN ANNUAL 
REPORTING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall enter 
into an agreement with the Bureau of the Census to 
develop income data with corrections for under-re-
porting of income data for calculating an anchored 
Supplemental Poverty Measure as part of the annual 
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report required by subsection (a), not later than the 
close of fiscal year 2023. 
‘‘(2) REPORT REQUIRED IF COMPLIANCE IS NOT 
FEASIBLE.—If the Secretary determines that it will 
not be feasible to comply with all or part of para-
graph (1), the Secretary shall submit to the Con-
gress, not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this section, a report that explains 
what is not feasible, why it is not feasible, and in-
cludes details on what, if anything, would be needed 
to enable such compliance and by what date compli-
ance could be achieved. 
‘‘SEC. 443. CHILD POVERTY REPORTS. 
‘‘(a) ANNUAL REPORTS ON THE EFFECT OF FED-
ERAL POLICIES ON CHILD POVERTY IN THE UNITED 
STATES.—Within 6 months after the date of the enact-
ment of this section, the Secretary shall enter into an 
agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to sub-
mit to the Congress annual reports providing an evidence- 
based, non-partisan analysis of how Federal policies or 
programs have contributed to meeting the goal set forth 
in section 441(a), based on their effect on the anchored 
Supplemental Poverty Measure for children as reported by 
the Bureau of the Census pursuant to section 442. 
‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF REPORTS.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each such report— 
‘‘(A) shall analyze how, and the extent to 
which, Federal policies and programs contribute 
to meeting the goal referred to in subsection (a) 
of this section; 
‘‘(B) shall take into account the number of 
children in deep poverty and child poverty 
among racial or ethnic groups with disparate 
poverty rates; 
‘‘(C) shall attempt to ascertain whether 
each studied policy or program reduces or in-
creases the number of children living in poverty, 
why the policy or program does so, and the ex-
tent to which the policy or program does so; 
and 
‘‘(D) shall include, to the extent feasible, 
projections on how such policies or programs 
would affect the number of children living in 
poverty in future years, which shall be made on 
the basis of previously released Current Popu-
lation Survey Annual Social and Economic Sup-
plement data, and adjusted periodically as new 
estimates from the Bureau of the Census be-
come available. 
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‘‘(2) DATA
CORRECTIONS.—Where feasible, 
each such report shall correct the underlying Cur-
rent Population Survey Annual Social and Economic 
Supplement data, for under-reporting of income and 
in-kind benefits and shall include estimates using 
both uncorrected and corrected income data. Be-
cause available information with which to produce 
corrected income data is currently limited and not 
timely, each such report shall indicate the year to 
which the corrected income data pertain and other 
limitations of the data. As soon as corrected income 
data from the Census Bureau become available 
under section 442(d), each such report shall use 
those data. 
‘‘(c) FEASIBILITY REVIEW OF STATE AND LOCAL 
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICIES.—The 1st report under sub-
section (a) shall include a review of the feasibility of in-
cluding consideration of State and local evidence-based 
policies or programs in subsequent such reports, and if 
the review determines that including the consideration is 
feasible, then each such report shall include an analysis 
of the additional policies. 
‘‘(d) TIMING.—Each report for a year under sub-
section (a) shall be made after the report of the United 
States Census Bureau on Income, Poverty, and Health In-
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surance Coverage in the United States for the year is re-
leased, and— 
‘‘(1) in the case of the 1st such report, before 
the beginning of the 1st calendar year that begins 
more than 6 months after the date of the enactment 
of this section; or 
‘‘(2) in the case of each subsequent such report, 
before the end of the year. 
‘‘(e) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO-
PRIATIONS.—To carry out this section, there are author-
ized to be appropriated not more than— 
‘‘(1) $1,200,000 for fiscal year 2021; and 
‘‘(2) $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 
through 2030. 
‘‘SEC. 444. CHILD POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY CLEAR-
INGHOUSE. 
‘‘The Secretary shall establish, and annually update, 
on a website of the Department of Health and Human 
Services, an online collection of resources related to the 
national child poverty reduction goal established in section 
441 of this Act, including— 
‘‘(1) the anchored Supplemental Poverty Meas-
ure published under section 442 of this Act; 
‘‘(2) the reports required by section 443 of this 
Act; 
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‘‘(3) the report required by section 3 of the 
Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2021; 
‘‘(4) the report required by section 4 of the 
Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2021; and 
‘‘(5) links to other relevant Federal reports, 
analyses, evaluations, and resources related to child 
poverty as determined by the Secretary. 
‘‘SEC. 445. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this part: 
‘‘(1) ANCHORED.—The term ‘anchored’ means 
fixed at a given point in time, and annually adjusted 
by a measure reflecting only changes in prices. 
‘‘(2) POVERTY.—The term ‘poverty’ means, 
with respect to an individual or family, that the indi-
vidual or family has a total annual income that is 
less than the anchored Supplemental Poverty thresh-
old for the individual or family, as provided in the 
Bureau of the Census report under section 442. 
‘‘(3) DEEP POVERTY.—The term ‘deep poverty’ 
means, with respect to an individual or family, that 
the individual or family has a total annual income 
that is less than 50 percent of the anchored Supple-
mental Poverty threshold for the individual or fam-
ily, as provided in the Bureau of the Census report 
under section 442.’’. 
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SEC. 3. UPDATE OF ‘‘A ROADMAP TO REDUCE CHILD POV-
ERTY’’. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Within 36 months after the date 
of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall enter into an agreement with 
the National Academy of Sciences to revise and update 
the National Academies report entitled ‘‘A Roadmap to 
Reduce Child Poverty’’ within 72 months after the date 
of entry into the agreement. 
(b) LIMITATIONS
ON AUTHORIZATION
OF APPRO-
PRIATIONS.—To carry out subsection (a), there are au-
thorized to be appropriated not more than $2,200,000. 
SEC. 4. REPORT ON REDUCING LONG-TERM, INTERGENERA-
TIONAL CHILD POVERTY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Within 6 months after the date 
of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall enter into an agreement with 
the National Academy of Sciences to publish, within 36 
months after the date of entry into the agreement, a re-
port on evidence-based policies to reduce long-term, inter-
generational child poverty, which report shall build on the 
National Academies report entitled ‘‘A Roadmap to Re-
duce Child Poverty’’. 
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(b) LIMITATIONS
ON AUTHORIZATION
OF APPRO-
PRIATIONS.—To carry out subsection (a), there are au-
thorized to be appropriated not more than $2,200,000. 
Æ 
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