•HRES 985 IH 
Whereas poverty exacerbates the student achievement rate 
and many schools remain economically and racially seg-
regated; 
Whereas school districts with high poverty rates often receive 
the least amount of funding; 
Whereas the number of students experiencing poverty and 
homelessness has increased by 11 percent; 
Whereas LGBTQ+ students face poverty and homelessness 
because they are forced to leave their homes because of 
their sexual or gender identity; 
Whereas according to the Department of Education, 1.5 mil-
lion school-aged children experienced homelessness during 
the 2017–2018 school year; 
Whereas many low-income children and families do not re-
ceive the full value of the current Child Tax Credit 
(CTC) as it leaves behind 23 million children, including 
50 percent of Black and Latino Children; 
Whereas to reduce child poverty long term, children also need 
access to affordable, comprehensive physical and behav-
ioral health care, affordable high-quality early develop-
ment and learning opportunities, high performing schools 
and colleges, and families and neighborhoods free from 
violence; 
Whereas 29 percent of Americans skipped refilling their pre-
scriptions because of high costs, and 26 percent struggled 
to pay medical bills; 
Whereas more than half a million people experience poverty 
and homelessness on any given night, a number which 
has increased over the past two years; 
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•HRES 985 IH 
Whereas the criminal-legal system contributes to a cycle of 
poverty by issuing court-imposed fines and fees and 
threatening imprisonment for minor infractions and civil 
violations; 
Whereas according to the Prison Policy Initiative, families 
spend almost $2.9 billion on exorbitant commissary costs 
and phone calls to support their incarcerated loved ones; 
Whereas formerly incarcerated people face barriers to em-
ployment, housing, and social support programs after re-
lease and access to higher education, adult education, 
and workforce development training opportunities after 
release; 
Whereas nearly 1 in 2 United States children have at least 
1 parent with a criminal record, and the barriers associ-
ated with a parent’s record can stunt a child’s cognitive 
development, school performance, and educational attain-
ment; 
Whereas children in immigrant families make up one-quarter 
of all children in the United States, and are more likely 
to face systemic barriers to accessing economic and nutri-
tion supports that can aid their health and development; 
Whereas globally, people living in areas with high concentra-
tions of poverty will be disproportionately impacted by 
climate change; 
Whereas voter suppression and lack of access to voting, in-
cluding early voting or alternative methods, leads to a 
disproportionate underrepresentation of low-income peo-
ple; 
Whereas the United States should redistribute wealth and 
Federal assistance to reduce poverty and increase eco-
nomic opportunity; 
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•HRES 985 IH 
Whereas an investment of $24.4 billion per year in K–12 
schools and teachers could start to boost academic per-
formance among poor and struggling children for about 
the same cost as a wall at the southern border of the 
United States; 
Whereas for every $1 invested in early childhood education, 
society would gain $7.30 due to reduced poverty, lower 
incarceration rates, and better health outcomes; 
Whereas addressing climate change with a $200 billion per 
year investment in a clean energy transition would reduce 
poverty by creating 2.7 million new jobs; 
Whereas raising income tax rates by 1 percent in the top 2 
income brackets would raise about $125 billion over 10 
years that can be used in assistance for people living in 
poverty; 
Whereas ending mass incarceration and instead adopting a 
Justice Reinvestment model could save up to $4 billion 
that can be used to invest in people living in poverty; and 
Whereas simple trade-offs in our budget could fund critical, 
equitable policy changes towards establishing a moral 
economy: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) acknowledges that budgets are moral docu-
ments that reflect our values as a Nation; 
(2) acknowledges that child poverty robs our 
Nation of a child’s full potential and prevents mil-
lions of children from reaching healthy development 
and an economically secure future; 
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•HRES 985 IH 
(3) supports passing policy provisions to reduce 
adult and child poverty, racial disparities, income 
and wealth inequality, and increase of opportunity 
for all; 
(4) supports policies to help reduce child pov-
erty by increasing wages for working families, im-
proving tax credits to ensure more low-income chil-
dren and families benefit, expanding subsidized jobs 
with special attention to the needs of young adults 
disconnected from school and work, and providing 
access to quality, reliable childcare; 
(5) encourages the Federal Government, States, 
and cities to enact robust antipoverty policies and to 
create new, innovative solutions to eliminate poverty; 
(6) acknowledges that too few resources have 
been allocated by the Federal Government to help 
end poverty for children and families; 
(7) acknowledges that poverty was created and 
sustained by humans, including policymakers, and 
that we can choose to end it; 
(8) affirms that ending poverty, especially for 
our Nation’s children, is a moral and economic im-
perative; 
(9) affirms immigration status is not a means 
to deny basic need programs; 
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•HRES 985 IH 
(10) supports increased funding for and 
strengthening of basic need programs like the sup-
plemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP), 
temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), the 
Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit 
(EITC), and housing assistance especially during the 
COVID–19 pandemic; 
(11) supports comprehensive health care that 
should be available and affordable to everyone in the 
United States during the COVID–19 pandemic; 
(12) supports the strengthening of robust un-
employment insurance and paid leave policies to pro-
tect workers, especially during the COVID–19 pan-
demic; 
(13) reaffirms that a criminal record is no 
longer a life sentence to poverty for tens of millions 
of justice-involved individuals and their families, and 
supports automatically clearing criminal records 
once a person has completed the sentence imposed; 
and 
(14) accepts climate change as an accelerator 
towards poverty and a threat to shared prosperity 
that demands investment in a clean energy transi-
tion to help create jobs. 
Æ 
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