Title: The Recognizing Poverty Act
Policy area: Social Welfare

Summary:
The Recognizing Poverty Act
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, to enter into agreements with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) to examine certain poverty measures relevant to the Community Services Block Grant. As background, this grant provides funding to states, tribes, territories, and other entities to alleviate the causes and conditions of poverty. Currently, to be eligible for activities funded by this grant, individuals must have incomes at or below 100% of the federal poverty line.
Specifically, the National Academies must assess the adequacy of the current poverty line as a measure of the resources a family needs to afford basic goods and services and must propose a new poverty guide that accounts for costs related to health insurance, childcare, and other factors, such as the prevalence of food insecurity at different levels of income. This proposed measure may not be lower than the current poverty line.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5069 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5069

 To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop for 
   consideration of the Congress a poverty line for purposes of the 
      Community Services Block Grant Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 13, 2019

  Ms. Ocasio-Cortez (for herself, Ms. Meng, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Ms. 
Moore, Ms. Tlaib, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, and Ms. Lee 
of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop for 
   consideration of the Congress a poverty line for purposes of the 
      Community Services Block Grant Act, and for other purposes.

    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 ``The Recognizing Poverty Act''.

SEC. 2. ASSESSMENT OF THE ADEQUACY OF THE POVERTY LINE; DEVELOPMENT OF 
              POVERTY LINE.

    (a) Assessment.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in 
collaboration with the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, shall make a contract with the Committee on National 
Statistics of the National Academy of Sciences to assess the adequacy 
of the poverty line (as defined in section 673(2) of the Community 
Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) as a measure of the 
resources families need to afford basic goods and services.
    (b) Development of Poverty Line.--The Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, in collaboration with the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau 
of Labor Statistics, shall make a contract with the Committee on 
National Statistics of the National Academy of Sciences to propose a 
poverty guide for purposes of section 673(2) of the Community Services 
Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) that accounts for an up-to-date 
adequate family income level. Such poverty line shall be developed for 
reference family consisting of 2 adults and their 2 related children 
and shall be an amount equal to the income that would be sufficient to 
make ends meet, accounting for expenditures on food, clothing, shelter, 
utilities, ``new necessities'' such as internet, and other needs 
identified, modified as follows:
            (1) Adjusted for family size using the best available 
        equivalence scales that consider economies of scale.
            (2) Adjusted for differences in the cost of goods and 
        services among States, sub-State non-metropolitan areas, and 
        metropolitan areas based on the best available data.
            (3) Adjusted to account for data on levels of spending on 
        goods and services in prior years and adjusted for cost changes 
        from said prior years to the current year.
            (4) Increased for needs related to health insurance for 
        family members, work expenses for the family, and child care 
        needs for each child under the age of 13 in the family, 
        including identification and consideration of ``new 
        necessities'' such as internet access and funds needed to 
        secure children's equal educational opportunity.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, the poverty 
line proposed under this subsection shall not be less than the poverty 
line then in effect under such section.
    (c) Required Factors.--For purposes of subsection (b), the 
Secretary shall consider--
            (1) relevant empirical data on prevalence at various income 
        levels of material hardships such as food--
                    (A) insecurity,
                    (B) falling behind on rent, mortgage, or utility 
                bills, eviction or overcrowding, and
                    (C) experiencing homelessness or living doubled up 
                in another person's home,
            (2) past Lower Living Standards implemented by the 
        Department of Labor,
            (3) the supplemental poverty measure of the Bureau of the 
        Census,
            (4) the Self Sufficiency Standards initially developed by 
        Diana Pearce and Wider Opportunities for Women,
            (5) the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program 
        Participation, and
            (6) other standards of income adequacy created by experts 
        and public commissions.
    (d) Publication.--The poverty line proposed under this section 
shall be updated and published annually.
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