I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4600 
To require poverty impact statements for certain legislation. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 16, 2005 
Ms. LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To require poverty impact statements for certain legislation. 
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 ‘‘Poverty Impact Trig-
ger Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. CERTAIN POVERTY IMPACT LEGISLATION SUBJECT 
TO POINT OF ORDER. 
Rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representa-
tives is amended by adding at the end the following new 
clause:
‘‘SEC. 7. CERTAIN LEGISLATION REPORTED BY COMMIT-
TEES. 
‘‘7. It shall not be in order to consider a bill or joint 
resolution of a public nature authorizing an appropriation 
of $10,000,000 or more, unless— 
‘‘(1) the committee report accompanying the 
bill or joint resolution includes a CBO Poverty Index 
Division impact statement; or 
‘‘(2) the chairman of the committee reporting 
the bill or joint resolution submits such statement to 
be published in the Congressional Record before con-
sideration of the bill or joint resolution.’’. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE POVERTY IM-
PACT DIVISION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 602) is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(h) CBO POVERTY IMPACT DIVISION.— 
‘‘(1) CREATION.—There is established within 
the Office the CBO Poverty Impact Division (herein-
after in this subsection referred to as the ‘Division’). 
‘‘(2) DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS.— 
‘‘(A) PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF 
IMPACT STATEMENT.—When a chairman of a 
committee of the House of Representatives sub-
mits a written request to the Division to pre-
pare and submit to the committee a CBO Pov-
erty Index Division impact statement, the Divi-
sion shall prepare and submit such statement to 
the committee not later than 30 days after such 
request. 
‘‘(B) CONTENT OF IMPACT STATEMENT.— 
A CBO Poverty Index Division impact state-
ment shall include the following: 
‘‘(i) A projected ratio equal to the 
amount of appropriations authorized in the 
bill or joint resolution that will benefit in-
dividuals and families below the poverty 
threshold over the total amount of appro-
priations authorized by the bill or joint res-
olution. 
‘‘(ii) A projection of the number of in-
dividual and family incomes— 
‘‘(I) that may decrease below the 
poverty threshhold because of the bill 
or joint resolution; and 
‘‘(II) that may increase above the 
poverty threshhold because of the bill 
or joint resolution. 
‘‘(iii) A projection as to how the legis-
lation improves access to basic human
services, including health care, housing, 
and education. 
‘‘(C) POVERTY THRESHOLD DEFINED.—In 
this subsection, the term ‘poverty threshold’ 
means an income level below 200 percent of the 
poverty line (as defined in section 673(2) of the 
Community Services Block Grant Act).’’. 
SEC. 4. EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS. 
Section 2 of this Act is enacted by the House of Rep-
resentatives— 
(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 
the House of Representatives and as such it shall be 
considered as part of the rules of the House of Rep-
resentatives and such rules shall supersede other 
rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent 
therewith; and 
(2) with the full recognition of the constitu-
tional right of the House of Representatives to 
change such rules at any time, in the same manner, 
and to the same extent as in the case of any other 
rule of the House of Representatives.
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Act shall apply to any bill or joint resolution 
reported by a committee after the 90-day period beginning 
on the date of enactment of this Act. 
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