SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Poverty imposes substantial costs on all 
Americans that can be addressed through effective 
poverty reduction. 
(2) States and cities throughout the country 
have acknowledged the need to reduce poverty and 
the role of the Federal Government as an essential 
partner. 
(3) On January 22, 2008, the House of Rep-
resentatives, by voice vote, passed House Concurrent 
Resolution 198 of the 110th Congress expressing the 
sense of the Congress that the United States should 
set a national goal of cutting poverty in half over the 
next 10 years. 
(4) The poverty rate is a critical indicator of 
how widely shared prosperity is in the economy, and 
a key benchmark for targeting resources towards the 
most disadvantaged. 
(5) The poverty measure is critical for efforts 
to strengthen and enlarge the middle class, as it in-
dicates who falls from or struggles to join the middle 
class. 
(6) The official poverty measure, while helpful, 
is based on outdated assumptions and fails to accu-
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rately measure economic deprivation or take into ac-
count the availability of many economic resources. 
(7) The official poverty measure offers inad-
equate guidance about the effectiveness of public 
anti-poverty efforts. 
(8) In 1995, the National Academy of Sciences’ 
Panel on Poverty and Family Assistance rec-
ommended adoption of an improved poverty meas-
ure, which addresses many shortcomings of the offi-
cial poverty measure and which remains relevant 
and offers a starting point for an improved measure. 
(9) Since even an improved poverty measure re-
mains a measure of deprivation, not of adequacy, a 
measure of adequate income needed to reach a de-
cent living standard is also necessary. 
(10) Since an inability to access needed medical 
care is an important indicator of economic insecu-
rity, a medical care risk measure would further en-
hance understanding of Americans’ well-being. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to provide for an improved 
and updated method for measuring the extent to which 
families and individuals in the United States have suffi-
cient income to allow a minimal level of consumption 
spending that meets their basic physical needs, including 
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food, shelter (including utilities), clothing, and other nec-
essary items, in order to better assess the effects of certain 
policies and programs in reducing the prevalence and 
depth of poverty, to accurately gauge the level of economic 
deprivation, and to improve understanding of the tar-
geting of public resources, without directly affecting the 
distribution of, or eligibility for, any Federal benefits or 
assistance. 
SEC. 4. MODERNIZATION OF THE MEASUREMENT OF POV-
ERTY. 
Part A of title XI of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1301—1320b–21) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 1150A. MODERNIZATION OF THE MEASUREMENT OF 
POVERTY. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Bureau of the Census, in 
collaboration with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after 
consultation about methodology with other Federal statis-
tical agencies and outside experts, shall, to the extent pos-
sible and based on the best available data, calculate mod-
ern poverty thresholds, and modern poverty rates as pro-
vided for in subsection (d), for each calendar year (includ-
ing any calendar year before the first year for which the 
first annual report is published, for which the information 
needed to perform the calculations is available or can be 
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estimated with a reasonable degree of confidence, as deter-
mined by the Bureau of the Census) in accordance with 
this section. 
‘‘(b) NO EFFECT ON BENEFIT PROGRAMS.—This 
section shall not be interpreted to modify or authorize 
modification of eligibility of any entity for, or the amount 
or kind of benefits or assistance to be provided to any enti-
ty under, any program or activity funded, in whole or in 
part, with Federal funds. 
‘‘(c) MODERN POVERTY THRESHOLDS.— 
‘‘(1) CONSUMPTION
DISTRIBUTION
FOR
REF-
ERENCE FAMILY.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Within 12 months 
after the date of the enactment of this section, 
the Bureau of the Census and Bureau of Labor 
Statistics shall choose— 
‘‘(i) the most appropriate distribution 
of consumption expenditures (including the 
value of relevant amounts described in sub-
section (d)(3) or that would otherwise be 
described in subsection (d)(3) if included 
in the distribution) on food, clothing, and 
shelter (including utilities), which may, if 
appropriate, exclude families receiving sub-
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sidies for food, clothing, or shelter (includ-
ing utilities); and 
‘‘(ii) the reference family for the mod-
ern poverty measure. 
‘‘(B) CALCULATION FOR REFERENCE FAM-
ILY.—The modern poverty threshold for a ref-
erence family, as determined under subpara-
graph (A), shall be an amount equal to the av-
erage of 120 percent of the 33rd percentile of 
the distribution chosen under subparagraph (A) 
allowing for calculations to rely on a limited 
band converging on this percentile, during 4 or 
more of the most recent years for which data 
is available from the Consumer Expenditure 
Survey, a superior Federal Government source 
of data, or some combination of such sources as 
determined by the Bureau of the Census and 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The threshold 
shall be updated no less often than annually 
using this method. 
‘‘(C) 
SPECIAL
RULE.—Notwithstanding 
any other provision of this section, insofar as 
the amounts described in subparagraphs (F) 
and (G) of subsection (d)(3) are not easily in-
cluded in the distribution referred to in sub-
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