I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2182 
To establish the Federal Interagency Working Group on Reducing Poverty 
which will create and carry out a national plan to cut poverty in America 
in half in ten years. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 23, 2013 
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mr. HOYER, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, 
Ms. CHU, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. NADLER, Mr. 
CONYERS, Mr. VELA, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. RUSH, Ms. MOORE, Ms. SEWELL 
of Alabama, Ms. KAPTUR, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. ELLISON, 
Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. SCHA-
KOWSKY, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. SIRES, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Ms. EDWARDS, Mr. 
DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. RICHMOND, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. 
CARSON of Indiana, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. TONKO, Mr. VEASEY, 
Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. CLAY, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 
Mr. HECK of Washington, Mr. HONDA, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. BRADY of 
Pennsylvania, Ms. NORTON, and Ms. JACKSON LEE) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Gov-
ernment Reform 
A BILL 
To establish the Federal Interagency Working Group on Re-
ducing Poverty which will create and carry out a national 
plan to cut poverty in America in half in ten years. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Half in Ten Act of 
2013’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The persistence of poverty, and especially 
intergenerational poverty, in America can be seen as 
a deep, structural problem that implicates our value 
system and our educational and economic institu-
tions. 
(2) Poverty may be defined as the lack of basic 
necessities of life such as food, shelter, clothing, 
health care, education, economic security, and eco-
nomic opportunity. 
(3) Policy initiatives and many safety net pro-
grams addressing poverty have not kept pace with 
the needs of millions of Americans. 
(4) The lack of an equitable distribution of 
housing choices across the country leads to isolation 
and concentrated poverty. 
(5) The number of Americans living in poverty 
rose by over 2.6 million from 2009 to 2010 (U.S. 
Census Bureau, September 2011). 
(6) There were 46.2 million Americans living in 
poverty in 2010, consisting of 15.1 percent of the 
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American people (U.S. Census Bureau, September 
2011). 
(7) Poverty has a disproportionate impact on 
minority communities in America with 27.4 percent 
of African-Americans, 26.6 percent of Hispanics, 
12.1 percent of Asian Americans, and 9.9 percent of 
Whites living in poverty in the United States in 
2010 (U.S. Census Bureau, September 2011). 
(8) In 2010 a family of 4 was considered poor 
under the U.S. Census Bureau’s official measure if 
the family’s income was below $22,314. 
(9) The economic consequences of poverty in 
the United States are estimated to be at least $500 
billion per year (Center for American Progress, 
2007). 
(10) Children who grow up in poverty experi-
ence higher crime rates, decreased productivity, and 
higher health costs over their lives (Center for Amer-
ican Progress, 2007). 
(11) 3,500,000 seniors lived in poverty in 2010 
(U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). 
(12) Young Americans, ages 18–24, experience 
a higher poverty rate than the national average 
(U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). 
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(13) 16,400,000 children lived in poverty in 
2010—more than one in every five American chil-
dren (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). 
(14) Almost 35 percent of African-American 
children and over 30 percent of Hispanic children 
lived in poverty in 2009 (U.S. Census Bureau, 
2011). 
(15) The 46,180,000 of Americans in poverty 
in 2010 was the largest number yet recorded in the 
52 years for which poverty estimates are available 
(U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). 
(16) Individuals and families in poverty are 
more socially vulnerable to natural disasters, ex-
treme weather and impacts of climate change and 
have greater difficulty preparing for, responding to 
and recovering from such events (Oxfam America, 
2009). 
(17) Children who live in families who fall into 
poverty for even short periods of time are at greater 
risk of a lifetime of lower earnings, lower edu-
cational attainment, and increased reliance on public 
services and increased rates of incarceration (First 
Focus, 2008). 
(18) It is estimated that the additional 3 mil-
lion children who were forced into poverty due to the 
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