I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5069 
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop for 
consideration of the Congress a poverty line for purposes of the Commu-
nity Services Block Grant Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 13, 2019 
Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ (for herself, Ms. MENG, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. 
MOORE, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, and Ms. 
LEE of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
to develop for consideration of the Congress a poverty 
line for purposes of the Community Services Block Grant 
Act, 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 ‘‘The Recognizing Pov-
erty Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. ASSESSMENT OF THE ADEQUACY OF THE POVERTY 
LINE; DEVELOPMENT OF POVERTY LINE. 
(a) ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, in collaboration with the Bureau of the 
Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shall make 
a contract with the Committee on National Statistics of 
the National Academy of Sciences to assess the adequacy 
of the poverty line (as defined in section 673(2) of the 
Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 
9902(2))) as a measure of the resources families need to 
afford basic goods and services. 
(b) DEVELOPMENT OF POVERTY LINE.—The Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services, in collaboration 
with the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, shall make a contract with the Committee on 
National Statistics of the National Academy of Sciences 
to propose a poverty guide for purposes of section 673(2) 
of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 
9902(2)) that accounts for an up-to-date adequate family 
income level. Such poverty line shall be developed for ref-
erence family consisting of 2 adults and their 2 related 
children and shall be an amount equal to the income that 
would be sufficient to make ends meet, accounting for ex-
penditures on food, clothing, shelter, utilities, ‘‘new neces-
sities’’ such as internet, and other needs identified, modi-
fied as follows: 
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(1) Adjusted for family size using the best 
available equivalence scales that consider economies 
of scale. 
(2) Adjusted for differences in the cost of goods 
and services among States, sub-State non-metropoli-
tan areas, and metropolitan areas based on the best 
available data. 
(3) Adjusted to account for data on levels of 
spending on goods and services in prior years and 
adjusted for cost changes from said prior years to 
the current year. 
(4) Increased for needs related to health insur-
ance for family members, work expenses for the fam-
ily, and child care needs for each child under the age 
of 13 in the family, including identification and con-
sideration of ‘‘new necessities’’ such as internet ac-
cess and funds needed to secure children’s equal 
educational opportunity. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, 
the poverty line proposed under this subsection shall not 
be less than the poverty line then in effect under such sec-
tion. 
(c) REQUIRED FACTORS.—For purposes of sub-
section (b), the Secretary shall consider— 
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(1) relevant empirical data on prevalence at 
various income levels of material hardships such as 
food— 
(A) insecurity, 
(B) falling behind on rent, mortgage, or 
utility bills, eviction or overcrowding, and 
(C) experiencing homelessness or living 
doubled up in another person’s home, 
(2) past Lower Living Standards implemented 
by the Department of Labor, 
(3) the supplemental poverty measure of the 
Bureau of the Census, 
(4) the Self Sufficiency Standards initially de-
veloped by Diana Pearce and Wider Opportunities 
for Women, 
(5) the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and 
Program Participation, and 
(6) other standards of income adequacy created 
by experts and public commissions. 
(d) PUBLICATION.—The poverty line proposed under 
this section shall be updated and published annually. 
Æ 
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