IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 551 
Fully addressing child poverty. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 23, 2023 
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Ms. JACOBS, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. 
SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. THOMPSON 
of Mississippi, Mr. MCGARVEY, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
SABLAN, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. 
EVANS, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. SCAN-
LON, Ms. BROWNLEY, and Ms. TLAIB) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 
RESOLUTION 
Fully addressing child poverty. 
Whereas there were over 3,800,000 children living in poverty 
in the United States in 2021, the lowest child poverty 
rate on record and a 46-percent reduction from 2020; 
Whereas for the first time on record, children in 2021 experi-
enced a lower rate of poverty than adults; 
Whereas improvements to the Child Tax Credit passed in the 
American Rescue Plan Act were largely responsible for 
the record decline in child poverty in 2021, with the ex-
pansions lifting over 2,000,000 children over the poverty 
threshold and the full Child Tax Credit lifting nearly 
3,000,000; 
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Whereas the expiration of improvements to the Child Tax 
Credit already has pushed 4,000,000 children back into 
poverty in January 2022, and caused a 12-percent in-
crease in food insecurity; 
Whereas the United States must continue to work to ensure 
that all eligible families are able to receive the Child Tax 
Credit that they are owed, including non filer families, 
immigrant families, and families in Puerto Rico; 
Whereas, according to analysis from First Focus on Children, 
the share of Federal spending on children temporarily in-
creased in 2021 and 2022 due to an influx of pandemic 
assistance, yet it is likely to see a decrease in the share 
of Federal spending on children in 2023; 
Whereas Black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian and 
Alaska Native children experienced record low-poverty 
rates in 2021, but still experience significantly higher 
rates of poverty than their White peers and the injustice 
of poverty is deeply entwined with the injustice of sys-
temic racism; 
Whereas 1.4 percent of children in the United States (over 
1 million) were still living in deep poverty in 2021, in 
households with incomes less than 50 percent of Federal 
poverty thresholds and who face severe deprivation; 
Whereas the Federal poverty thresholds underestimate pov-
erty in the United States, and families with children with 
incomes well above Federal poverty thresholds continue 
to experience material hardship and the inability to af-
ford basic needs; 
Whereas young children under the age of 3 have the highest 
rates of poverty, experiencing significant hardship while 
undergoing critical stages of brain development; 
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•HRES 551 IH 
Whereas the United States continues to have a significantly 
higher rate of child poverty compared to other wealthy 
nations because the Nation fails to sufficiently invest in 
children; 
Whereas children in immigrant families experience higher 
rates of poverty than children in nonimmigrant families 
because they face barriers to accessing antipoverty pro-
grams, and increasing both their eligibility and access to 
benefits would have a significant impact in reducing child 
poverty; 
Whereas children living in Puerto Rico and the other United 
States territories experience poverty at higher rates than 
children in the 50 States and District of Columbia be-
cause they lack equal access to Federal benefits as part 
of a long history of racism and discrimination against 
people living in the territories; 
Whereas poverty is linked to material hardship, resulting in 
children in poverty experiencing hunger and food insecu-
rity, a lack of access to health care, unsafe and unstable 
shelter, and a lack of other basic needs which lead to 
children in poverty often having worse physical and men-
tal health, educational, and other outcomes than their 
wealthier peers; 
Whereas children living in poverty and Black and Hispanic 
children experience higher rates of asthma and lead poi-
soning compared to their peers due to living in sub-
standard housing and neighborhood conditions that are a 
product of an environmental legacy of structural racism; 
Whereas the National Academy of Sciences finds that when 
households with children receive cash transfers, parents 
and caretakers spend it on resources that support their 
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children’s healthy development, leading to improved phys-
ical and behavioral health and educational outcomes for 
their children and leading these children to earn more as 
adults; 
Whereas, as the United States high rate of child poverty has 
negative implications for not only the outcomes of indi-
vidual children living in poverty, but also for society as 
a whole, costing the United States upward of $1 trillion 
a year due to lost economic output, increased health care 
costs, and more; 
Whereas the outbreak of COVID–19 and its economic fallout 
has had a disproportionately negative impact for the eco-
nomic security of households with children, especially for 
households of color and those that were already strug-
gling before the pandemic; 
Whereas too often children unjustly come in contact with the 
child welfare system due to a lack of household sufficient 
economic supports and youth who age out of the foster 
care system experience higher levels of poverty, criminal 
justice involvement, and homelessness than their peers; 
Whereas households with children with disabilities and special 
health care needs are more prone to economic hardship, 
as the yearly average cost of caring for a child with dis-
abilities ranges from around $6,000 to $20,000; 
Whereas poverty is inextricably linked to homelessness, with 
over 1,000,000 students experiencing homelessness in the 
2020–2021 school year, yet these issues are often ad-
dressed in separate policy silos; 
Whereas the United States invests fewer public dollars in 
early childhood education and care than almost all other 
developed nations; 
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•HRES 551 IH 
Whereas social spending on children has a bigger return on 
investment for society than social spending for other ages 
yet the United States continues to underinvest in chil-
dren; and 
Whereas only 21 out of 100 families with children in poverty 
receive benefits through the Temporary Assistance for 
Needy Families (TANF) program, only 1 in 4 eligible 
families receive Federal housing assistance, only 10 per-
cent of income-eligible infants and toddlers can access 
early Head Start, only 25 percent of eligible 3- to 5-year- 
olds can access Head Start, and even with recent in-
creases to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 
(SNAP) benefits, food insecurity remains high for house-
holds with children: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) desires that no child should experience pov-
erty in the United States and supports the establish-
ment of a national child poverty reduction target to 
build the political will needed to make the invest-
ments and policy changes that will end child poverty; 
(2) recognizes that every child deserves access 
to nutritious meals, safe and stable housing, appro-
priate pediatric health care, clean air and drinking 
water, and other necessities, and children should not 
be denied resources because of the color of their 
skin, their household’s economic status or zip code, 
their health care status, their gender identity and 
sexual orientation, or their immigration status; 
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(3) supports making the improvements made in 
2021 to the Child Tax Credit permanent, which sig-
nificantly reduced child poverty and narrowed the 
poverty gap for Black, Hispanic, and American In-
dian/Alaska Native children; 
(4) encourages the establishment of a perma-
nent interagency coordinating council to improve do-
mestic and international policymaking for children 
housed in the Office of the Department of Health 
and Human Services Secretary; 
(5) recognizes that the United States under-
invests in children and support making additional 
Federal investments for children, increasing the 
share of Federal spending on children, and address-
ing the budgetary structural disadvantages facing 
children’s programs; 
(6) supports access for all children to high-qual-
ity, affordable, and accessible learning opportunities, 
including mixed deliver, within child care, pre-K, 
Head Start, and Early Head Start in order to ben-
efit children, their families, the early childhood 
workforce, and the economy; 
(7) guarantees accessible, diverse, safe, high- 
quality, equitable public education and accessible 
education infrastructure from pre-K–12 for all chil-
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dren, and protects and expands public resources for 
students with disabilities; and 
(8) encourages States, territories, and localities 
to enact policies that follow the direction provided by 
this resolution. 
Æ 
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