Title: Measuring Real Income Growth Act of 2019
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Measuring Real Income Growth Act of 2019
This bill requires the Bureau of Economic Analysis to include estimates pertaining to various income groups in its gross domestic product analyses. Such analyses shall include estimates pertaining to each of the 10 deciles of income as discreet groups and the highest 1% of income as a group.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3102 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3102

    To require the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of 
Commerce to provide estimates relating to the distribution of aggregate 
      economic growth across specific percentile groups of income.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 18, 2019

  Mr. Schumer (for himself, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Udall, Mr. Peters, Ms. 
   Smith, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Hassan, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. 
Durbin, Ms. Warren, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Booker, 
Mr. Sanders, Mr. Brown, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Reed, Mr. Warner, Ms. Baldwin, 
  Mr. Casey, and Mr. Markey) introduced the following bill; which was 
  read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of 
Commerce to provide estimates relating to the distribution of aggregate 
      economic growth across specific percentile groups of income.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Measuring Real Income Growth Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Economic inequality in the United States has increased 
        dramatically during the 4 decades preceding the date of 
        enactment of this Act, with fewer households taking home a 
        larger share of the national income.
            (2) While growth was once distributed relatively evenly 
        across all individuals in the United States, research shows 
        that economic gains are increasingly enjoyed by the most 
        affluent. By contrast, the majority of individuals in the 
        United States have seen income and wage growth significantly 
        below what is suggested by national measures of output and 
        income.
            (3) The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of 
        Commerce (referred to in this section as ``BEA'') reports 
        annual and quarterly estimates of gross domestic product 
        (referred to in this section as ``GDP'') in the United States. 
        These estimates are important measures of the overall size and 
        health of the economy of the United States but do not describe 
        how economic gains are distributed across the population of the 
        United States.
            (4) In a country of 325,000,000 individuals, top-line GDP 
        numbers do not capture the full range of household economic 
        experiences and may be misleading. For example, the real GDP 
        grew more than 3 percent annually between 2003 and 2005, but 
        the average income for \1/2\ of all individuals in the United 
        States fell during that period.
            (5) Disaggregating economic growth by income groups will 
        provide a more complete picture of how families in the United 
        States are faring across all rungs of the economic ladder and 
        whether economic growth is benefitting all individuals in the 
        United States.
            (6) Recent academic estimates of distributional growth show 
        how much of the economic gains during the 40 years preceding 
        the date of enactment of this Act have accrued to the top of 
        the income distribution. Between 1980 and 2014, the average 
        income of the top 1 percent of the income distribution grew 5 
        times as much as the average income of the bottom 90 percent of 
        the income distribution and more than 9 times as much as the 
        average income of the bottom \1/2\.
            (7) Official and timely estimates of distributional growth 
        from BEA, reported alongside top-line GDP numbers, would enable 
        Congress to better evaluate economic policies that impact every 
        individual in the United States.
            (8) Efforts to address slow wage growth, stagnant incomes, 
        and growing economic inequality require broadening the focus 
        beyond GDP and obtaining metrics that better correspond to the 
        experiences of all families in the United States.

SEC. 3. ESTIMATES OF AGGREGATE ECONOMIC GROWTH ACROSS INCOME GROUPS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Bureau.--The term ``Bureau'' means the Bureau of 
        Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce.
            (2) Gross domestic product analysis.--The term ``gross 
        domestic product analysis''--
                    (A) means a quarterly or annual analysis conducted 
                by the Bureau with respect to the gross domestic 
                product of the United States; and
                    (B) includes a revision prepared by the Bureau of 
                an analysis described in subparagraph (A).
    (b) Inclusion in Reports.--
            (1) In general.--With respect to each gross domestic 
        product analysis that is conducted on or after the date that is 
        1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Bureau 
        shall include in the gross domestic product analysis a recent 
        estimate of, with respect to specific percentile groups of 
        income, the total amount that was added to the economy of the 
        United States during the period to which the gross domestic 
        product analysis pertains, including in--
                    (A) each of the 10 deciles of income; and
                    (B) the highest 1 percent of income.
            (2) Recent estimates.--With respect to each recent estimate 
        that, under paragraph (1), the Bureau is required to include in 
        a gross domestic product analysis, that estimate shall be the 
        most recent estimate that is available on the date on which 
        that gross domestic product analysis is conducted.
            (3) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized 
        to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce such sums as 
        are necessary to carry out this subsection.
    (c) Authority To Share Information With BEA.--
            (1) In general.--Subparagraph (B) of section 6103(j)(1) of 
        the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``such 
        return information reflected on returns of corporations'' and 
        inserting ``such returns, or return information reflected 
        thereon,''.
            (2) Application of subchapter iii of chapter 35 of title 
        44.--The provisions of subchapter III of chapter 35 of title 
        44, United States Code, relating to the confidentiality and 
        disclosure of information shall apply to any return or return 
        information acquired by the Bureau under section 6103(j)(1)(B) 
        of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended by paragraph (1).
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