IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 985 
Expressing the moral responsibility of Congress to end adult and child poverty 
in the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 28, 2020 
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. 
HASTINGS, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. NOR-
TON, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. RUSH, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. GARCIA 
of Texas, Ms. MOORE, and Ms. JOHNSON of Texas) submitted the fol-
lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
Reform 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the moral responsibility of Congress to end adult 
and child poverty in the United States. 
Whereas poverty is an immoral and economic stain on our 
Nation and needs to be addressed; 
Whereas the poverty rate in the United States, the wealthiest 
nation in the world, continues to rank among the highest 
when compared to other developed nations; 
Whereas according to the ‘‘Poor People’s Moral Budget: Ev-
erybody Has the Right to Live’’, 140 million Americans 
are poor or one emergency away from being poor; 
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Whereas in 2018, 38.1 million people including 11.9 million 
children were living in poverty based on the Official Pov-
erty Measure (OPM); 
Whereas 1 in 6 children live in poverty and more than 5 mil-
lion of these children lived in extreme poverty, at less 
than half the poverty level, and nearly 3 in 4 poor chil-
dren were children of color; 
Whereas child poverty creates gaps in cognitive skills for very 
young children, puts children at greater risk of hunger 
and homelessness, jeopardizes their health and ability to 
learn, and fuels the intergenerational cycle of poverty; 
Whereas communities of color face disproportionate rates of 
poverty and inequality; 
Whereas approximately 8.9 million Black, 10.5 million 
Latinx, 2 million Asian, and 2.1 million Native and In-
digenous people live in poverty in the United States; 
Whereas income inequality is the worst it has been in five 
decades; 
Whereas more than 21.4 million women lived in poverty in 
2018, with women of color, women with disabilities, and 
older women facing higher rates of poverty than women 
overall; 
Whereas the top 10 percent of United States households own 
70 percent of the country’s total wealth and those in the 
bottom 50 percent saw no increase in their wealth over 
the past 30 years; 
Whereas in 2018, 37.2 million people, including 11.2 million 
children, were deemed food insecure, including the 10 
million people living in 5.6 million households defined by 
the Department of Agriculture as very food insecure, a 
number virtually unchanged since 2017; 
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Whereas if COVID–19 incidences continue as projected 
through this year and next, the number of people experi-
encing food insecurity in 2020 would increase by over 17 
million, including nearly 7 million children, which means 
54 million people (1 in 6) would experience food insecu-
rity in 2020, including 18 million children (1 in 4); 
Whereas the Federal minimum wage has not changed from 
$7.25 per hour since 2009, and Federal law has allowed 
employers to pay tipped workers just $2.13 per hour 
since 1991; 
Whereas the value of the minimum wage has declined in real 
terms by more than 30 percent since 1968; 
Whereas the Official Poverty Measure (OPM) does not ade-
quately capture sufficient needs for families to cover 
food, housing, utilities, and childcare expenses; 
Whereas 62 million workers in the United States work for 
less than a living wage; 
Whereas over 200,000 people with disabilities work for a sub-
minimum wage; 
Whereas the United States does not require a national min-
imum paid sick time standard, and therefore working 
adults without paid sick leave are three times more likely 
to have incomes below the poverty line; 
Whereas fewer than 40 percent have access to paid medical 
leave to address a serious illness or injury through em-
ployer-provided short-term disability insurance, and fewer 
than 60 percent are eligible to take unpaid FMLA (Fam-
ily and Medical Leave Act), leaving millions of workers 
and families just 1 accident or illness away from eco-
nomic devastation; 
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Whereas approximately 5.2 million workers are working in in-
voluntary part-time jobs when they would prefer full-time 
jobs; 
Whereas millions of people working in hourly jobs have un-
stable, unpredictable work schedules that do not give 
them the notice and input they need to plan their lives 
and care for their families; 
Whereas ‘‘fissuring’’ of the workplace, has resulted in more 
subcontracted, temporary, and 1099 positions that lack 
benefits and workplace protections, leading to greater 
economic precarity for low-wage workers; 
Whereas according to the 2018 Federal Reserve report on the 
economic wellbeing of United States households, 4 in 10 
Americans say they are not able to cover an unexpected 
expense of $400; 
Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic may exacerbate poverty, 
especially for children, and has exposed the shortcomings 
of the United States economic system and social safety 
net; 
Whereas if adequate measures are not taken to help Ameri-
cans during the COVID–19 pandemic, the Center on 
Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University 
projects that 21 million more individuals will be in pov-
erty, the highest recorded rate of poverty since 1967; 
Whereas according to the same Columbia University report, 
child poverty could rise by 53 percent with Black and 
Latino children bearing a disproportionate risk of falling 
into or deeper into poverty; 
Whereas, as of May 21, 2020, 38.6 million Americans have 
filed for unemployment since mid-March because busi-
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nesses have shut down or reduced their payroll in re-
sponse to the COVID–19 pandemic; 
Whereas economic distress faced during the COVID–19 pan-
demic will disproportionately impact women, working- 
class people, children, and Black and Brown commu-
nities; 
Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic threatens to drastically in-
crease poverty for children and families; 
Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic is disrupting children’s 
daily lives and there are likely to be long-term and nega-
tive consequences for child development and future suc-
cess; 
Whereas low-income children and families are often the tar-
gets of discrimination based on their socioeconomic status 
as well as other social indicators such as race or eth-
nicity, immigration status, ability, sex, sexual orientation, 
and gender identity; 
Whereas low-income families pay nearly 35 percent of their 
income on childcare compared to middle-class families 
who pay roughly 14 percent of their income on childcare; 
Whereas poverty has lasting effects on a child’s neural and 
functional brain development and mental health; 
Whereas poverty exacerbates the student achievement rate 
and schools remain economically segregated; 
Whereas child poverty costs the United States between $800 
billion and $1.1 trillion annually; 
Whereas protecting children against the lifelong consequences 
of poverty will improve their life and reduce child poverty 
in future generations; 
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