I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9845 
To authorize competitive grants for the establishment of HOPE Accounts 
Pilot Projects and HOPE Action Plans Pilot Projects, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 
Mr. MORELLE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on En-
ergy and Commerce, Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, Ways 
and Means, and the Judiciary, 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 authorize competitive grants for the establishment of 
HOPE Accounts Pilot Projects and HOPE Action Plans 
Pilot Projects, 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 ‘‘Health, Opportunity, 
and Personal Empowerment Act of 2024’’ or ‘‘HOPE Act 
of 2024’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) In 2022, according to the Department of 
Agriculture, 44,151,000 individuals in the United 
States (including 13,394,000 children) lived in food 
insecure households. 
(2) Food hardship continues to be high, even 
after the official end of the COVID–19 public health 
emergency, with the Household Pulse Survey of the 
Bureau of the Census finding that, between March 
1 and April 1, 2024, 23,220,357 individuals in the 
United States did not have enough to eat either 
often or sometimes. 
(3) In 2022, according to the Bureau of the 
Census, 37,920,000 individuals in the United States 
(including 11,149,000 children) lived below the Fed-
eral poverty line. The majority of these individuals 
living in poverty were working people, children, older 
individuals, veterans, and individuals with disabil-
ities. 
(4) Many low-income individuals work multiple 
jobs and, contrary to common misconceptions, if un-
employed, they spend a great deal of time looking 
for work. They often travel by public transportation, 
laboriously making multiple connections to shuttle 
between home, work, social service agencies, houses 
of worship, and grocery stores. Low-income individ-
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uals living in rural and suburban areas far from 
work and without adequate public transportation 
rely upon vehicles to get to work, but these vehicles 
are often less reliable secondhand vehicles that often 
break down. From traveling greater distances be-
tween available jobs and livable areas with affordable 
housing options, seeking out scarce childcare options 
that fit a tight budget and a constrained travel 
schedule, and caring for elderly parents or grand-
parents because a senior living facility is not finan-
cially realistic, low-income individuals have little 
spare time. 
(5) While government safety net programs help 
tens of millions of individuals avoid starvation, 
homelessness, and other outcomes even more dread-
ful than everyday poverty, there are significant ob-
stacles that those seeking and maintaining govern-
ment assistance face for as long as they are eligible. 
Qualified applicants are often required to travel sig-
nificant distances to multiple government offices, 
preparing and submitting piles of nearly identical 
paperwork to access the different government assist-
ance programs. Even when the application process 
begins online, the eligible applicant is often still re-
quired to physically follow up with each government 
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office with physical copies, for near identical meet-
ings. As a result, many low-income people are actu-
ally unaware of all the government benefits for 
which they are eligible, reducing the amount of help 
going to individuals in need by tens of billions of 
dollars every year. The lines in these offices can 
seem endless, and sometimes clients need to wait 
outside for hours in the worst kinds of weather. 
Many offices do not have weekend or night hours, so 
an applicant is at risk of losing wages when often 
their only option is to apply for government help 
during work hours. 
(6) Each year, many vital government programs 
go underutilized because eligible beneficiaries are 
hindered by obtrusive, time consuming, and repet-
itive application barriers. In fiscal year 2019, ac-
cording to the Department of Agriculture, 18 per-
cent of all people eligible for the Supplemental Nu-
trition Assistance Program (referred to in this para-
graph as ‘‘SNAP’’), 23 percent of the ‘‘working 
poor’’ eligible for SNAP, and 68 percent of adults 
over 60 who were eligible for SNAP failed to partici-
pate in such program. According to the Department 
of Agriculture, the overall coverage rate of pregnant 
women, infants, and children up to age 5 eligible for 
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the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for 
Women, Infants, and Children (commonly known as 
‘‘WIC’’) declined from 55 percent in 2016 to 50 per-
cent in 2020. In fiscal year 2023, according to the 
Department of Agriculture, 47 percent of children in 
the United States who received meals through the 
National School Lunch Program did not received 
meals through the School Breakfast Program. In 
2022, 8 percent of individuals in the United States 
lacked health insurance for the entire year, accord-
ing to the Bureau of the Census. The Internal Rev-
enue Service estimates that one in 5 low-income 
United States workers eligible for the Earned In-
come Tax Credit do not claim it. 
(7) The United States has hundreds of thou-
sands of nonprofit groups providing high-quality and 
much needed social services, but it is nearly impos-
sible for struggling people to determine which of 
those organizations provide services they need, 
whether the organization is conveniently located, and 
for which services they are eligible. If they do deter-
mine that a nonprofit organization (or multiple non-
profit organizations) could help, they need to take 
yet more time to visit each one. 
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(8) Since many government and nonprofit pro-
grams require frequent reapplications and recertifi-
cations, a low-income individual often has to repeat 
the same endless and frustrating process. 
(9) Technology has fundamentally revamped the 
lives of most individuals, usually for the better. Ac-
cording to the Pew Research Center, 79 percent of 
adult individuals with incomes of $30,000 or less 
have a smart phone as of 2023 (not because a smart 
phone is a luxury but because it is an essential tool 
of learning and work in modern United States) but 
they rarely can use these devices to apply for bene-
fits. Digital technology, combined with policy im-
provements, can simplify the lives and boost the 
long-term self-sufficiency of low-income individuals 
in the United States. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means a State, unit of general purpose local gov-
ernment, Tribal government, or an entity that rep-
resents a smaller geographical area therein (includ-
ing a neighborhood). 
(2) 
HOPE.—The 
term 
‘‘HOPE’’ 
means 
Health, Opportunity, and Personal Empowerment. 
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(3) INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY.—The term 
‘‘individual with a disability’’ means an individual 
with a disability (as defined in section 3 of the 
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 
12102)). 
(4) NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION.—The term 
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization de-
scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section 
501(a) of such Code. 
(5) OLDER INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘older indi-
vidual’’ has the meaning given such term in section 
102 of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 
3002). 
(6) QUALIFIED BUSINESS OR NONPROFIT ORGA-
NIZATION.—The term ‘‘qualified business or non-
profit organization’’ means an entity that— 
(A) is— 
(i) a private business; or 
(ii) a nonprofit organization; 
(B) is based in the United States; and 
(C) has relevant, successful experience in 
technology. 
(7) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 
means the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
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the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of 
Housing and Urban Development, acting collabo-
ratively (except as otherwise provided in this Act). 
(8) TARGET POPULATION.—The term ‘‘target 
population’’ includes an individual who— 
(A) earns an individual or household in-
come below 200 percent of the Federal poverty 
line; 
(B) suffers from food insecurity; 
(C) earns insufficient individual or house-
hold income to ensure food security or economic 
security; 
(D) lives in a rural, suburban, or urban 
community that suffers from high rates of pov-
erty, hunger, or food insecurity; 
(E) is homeless; 
(F) receives (or recently received) assist-
ance under a State program funded under part 
A of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 601 et seq.), relating to temporary as-
sistance for needy families; 
(G) is eligible for benefits under any Fed-
eral nutrition assistance program or Federal 
antipoverty program; or 
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