I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3381 
To establish in the Administration for Children and Families of the Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services the Federal Interagency Working 
Group on Reducing Child Poverty to develop a national strategy to 
eliminate child poverty in the United States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2017 
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Ms. LEE, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, 
and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To establish in the Administration for Children and Families 
of the Department of Health and Human Services the 
Federal Interagency Working Group on Reducing Child 
Poverty to develop a national strategy to eliminate child 
poverty in the United States, 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 ‘‘Child Poverty Reduc-
tion Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF WORKING GROUP. 
There is established in the Administration for Chil-
dren and Families of the Department of Health and 
Human Services a group which shall be known as the Fed-
eral Interagency Working Group on Reducing Child Pov-
erty (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Working Group’’). 
SEC. 3. NATIONAL PLAN TO REDUCE CHILD POVERTY. 
(a) PRIMARY GOAL.— 
(1) DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL PLAN.—The 
primary goal of the Working Group is to develop a 
national plan— 
(A) to reduce, within 10 years after the 
date on which funding is made available to 
carry out this Act— 
(i) the number of children living in 
poverty in the United States to half of the 
number of such children as reported in the 
report of the United States Census Bureau 
on Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance 
Coverage in the United States: 2015 
(issued in September 2016); and 
(ii) the number of children living in 
extreme poverty in the United States to 
zero; and 
(B) to reduce, within 20 years after the 
date on which funds are made available to carry 
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out this Act, the number of children living in 
poverty in the United States to zero. 
(2) CONSULTATION WITH NATIONAL ACADEMY 
OF
SCIENCES.—In developing the national plan 
under paragraph (1), the Working Group shall con-
sider all recommendations, research papers, and re-
ports published by the National Academy of 
Sciences, including the Social Services and Income 
Maintenance Research conducted using amounts 
made available under the heading ‘‘Administration 
for Children and Families—Children and Families 
Services Programs’’ in division H of Public Law 
114–113 and in division H of Public Law 115–31. 
(3) DEADLINE.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Working 
Group shall make substantial progress toward the 
development of the national plan. 
(b) ADDITIONAL GOALS.—The national plan under 
subsection (a) shall include recommendations for achieving 
the following goals: 
(1) Understanding the root causes of child pov-
erty, including persistent intergenerational poverty, 
taking into account social, economic, and cultural 
factors. 
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(2) Improving the accessibility of anti-poverty 
programs and increasing the rate of enrollment in 
such programs among eligible children and families 
by reducing the complexity and difficulty of enrolling 
in such programs. 
(3) Eliminating disparate rates of child poverty 
based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, geography 
(e.g., rural, urban, suburban), English language pro-
ficiency, and ability. 
(4) Improving the ability of individuals living in 
poverty, low-income individuals, and unemployed in-
dividuals to access quality jobs that help children 
and their families rise above poverty. 
(5) Connecting low-income children, discon-
nected youth, and their families to education, job 
training, work, and their communities. 
(6) Shifting the measures and policies of Fed-
eral anti-poverty programs from the goal of helping 
individuals and families living in poverty to achieve 
freedom from deprivation toward the goal of helping 
such individuals and families rise above poverty and 
achieve long-term economic stability. 
(c) METHODS.—In developing the national plan 
under subsection (a), the Working Group shall employ 
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methods for achieving the goals described in subsections 
(a) and (b) that include— 
(1) studying the effect of child poverty on the 
health and welfare of children, including the access 
of children living in poverty to health care, housing, 
proper nutrition, and education; 
(2) measuring the effect of child poverty on the 
ability of individuals to achieve economic stability, 
including such effect on educational attainment, 
rates of incarceration, lifetime earnings, access to 
healthcare, and access to housing; 
(3) updating and applying improved measures 
of poverty that can meaningfully account for other 
aspects relating to the measure of poverty, such as 
the Supplemental Poverty Measure used by the 
United States Census Bureau; and 
(4) using and applying fact-based measures to 
evaluate the long-term effectiveness of anti-poverty 
programs, taking into account the long-term savings 
and value to the Federal Government and to State, 
local, and tribal governments of practices and poli-
cies designed to prevent poverty. 
SEC. 4. OTHER DUTIES. 
In addition to developing the national plan under sec-
tion 3(a), the Working Group shall— 
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(1) monitor, in consultation with the Domestic 
Policy Council and the National Economic Council, 
all Federal activities, programs, and services related 
to child welfare and child poverty; 
(2) establish guidelines, policies, goals, and di-
rectives related to the achievement of the goals of 
the national plan, in consultation with non-govern-
mental entities providing social services to low-in-
come children and families, advocacy groups that di-
rectly represent low-income children and families, 
policy experts, and officials of State, local, and tribal 
governments, including the working group of the 
largest State and local associations, who administer 
or direct policy for anti-poverty programs; 
(3) advise all relevant Federal agencies regard-
ing how to effectively administer and coordinate pro-
grams, activities, and services related to child wel-
fare and child poverty and how to resolve any dis-
putes that arise between or among such agencies as 
a result of such administration or coordination; 
(4) provide recommendations to the Congress 
regarding how to ensure that Federal agencies ad-
ministering programs, activities, and services related 
to child welfare and child poverty have adequate re-
sources to increase public awareness of such pro-
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