Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB702 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 702
5	5	To modify the measure and use of the poverty line issued by the Secretary
6	6	of Health and Human Services to more accurately account for the basic
7	7	needs of families and regional costs of living.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY23, 2025
10	10	Ms. S
11	11	HERRILLintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
12	12	mittee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the
13	13	Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently deter-
14	14	mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
15	15	as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To modify the measure and use of the poverty line issued
18	18	by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to more
19	19	accurately account for the basic needs of families and
20	20	regional costs of living.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Federal As-4
25	25	sistance to Families Act’’. 5
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28	28	•HR 702 IH
29	29	SEC. 2. NEW POVERTY LINE INDEX. 1
30	30	(a) I
31	31	NGENERAL.—The Bureau of the Census shall 2
32	32	develop and publish a new poverty line index to be meas-3
33	33	ured separately for each State on an annual basis and to 4
34	34	be known as the ‘‘Regionally Adjusted Poverty Line’’. 5
35	35	(b) R
36	36	EVISIONS.—The Regionally Adjusted Poverty 6
37	37	Line shall be a revised version of the most recent poverty 7
38	38	line that, for each State— 8
39	39	(1) uses new poverty thresholds created by mul-9
40	40	tiplying the State’s most recent poverty thresholds 10
41	41	by its most recent Regional Price Parity, divided by 11
42	42	100; and 12
43	43	(2) uses new poverty rates created by using the 13
44	44	poverty thresholds determined in paragraph (1) 14
45	45	rather than each State’s current poverty thresholds 15
46	46	to determine the percentage of households that are 16
47	47	below each State’s poverty line. 17
48	48	SEC. 3. USE OF THE REGIONALLY ADJUSTED POVERTY 18
49	49	LINE IN LIEU OF THE POVERTY LINE. 19
50	50	The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in con-20
51	51	sultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Devel-21
52	52	opment, shall— 22
53	53	(1) determine, for each State annually, which 23
54	54	poverty line index between the Regionally Adjusted 24
55	55	Poverty Line as specified in section 2 and the cur-25
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58	58	•HR 702 IH
59	59	rent poverty line has a higher poverty rate for such 1
60	60	State; 2
61	61	(2) issue, and publish in the Federal Register, 3
62	62	for each State, the poverty line index that has a 4
63	63	higher poverty rate for such State as specified in 5
64	64	paragraph (1) in lieu of the poverty line; and 6
65	65	(3) for each State— 7
66	66	(A) except as provided in subparagraph 8
67	67	(B), use the poverty line index that has a high-9
68	68	er poverty rate for such State as specified in 10
69	69	paragraph (1) for administrative purposes, in-11
70	70	cluding for determining financial eligibility for 12
71	71	certain Federal programs, in lieu of the poverty 13
72	72	line, and 14
73	73	(B) for the purpose of determining finan-15
74	74	cial eligibility for Premium Tax Credits under 16
75	75	the Affordable Care Act, have flexibility to use 17
76	76	either the Regionally Adjusted Poverty Line or 18
77	77	the current poverty line to ensure low-income 19
78	78	households in States not expanding Medicaid do 20
79	79	not lose access to Premium Tax Credits. 21
80	80	SEC. 4. GAO STUDY ON ALICE POVERTY MEASURE. 22
81	81	(a) I
82	82	NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 23
83	83	enactment of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 24
84	84	General of the United States shall submit to the Com-25
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87	87	•HR 702 IH
88	88	mittee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs of 1
89	89	the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Account-2
90	90	ability of the House of Representatives, a report con-3
91	91	taining the results of a study on— 4
92	92	(1) the advantages and disadvantages of the 5
93	93	ALICE threshold as a measure of poverty and 6
94	94	household material need relative to the current pov-7
95	95	erty line, including any additional information that 8
96	96	the ALICE threshold provides to policymakers that 9
97	97	is not available from the current poverty line; 10
98	98	(2) any areas in which the ALICE threshold 11
99	99	can be improved to better measure household mate-12
100	100	rial need or improve upon the current poverty line; 13
101	101	(3) how the Government can assist in the devel-14
102	102	opment and publication of the ALICE threshold; 15
103	103	and 16
104	104	(4) how, if at all, the ALICE threshold could be 17
105	105	incorporated into the financial eligibility criteria, 18
106	106	both that maintained by the Secretary of Health and 19
107	107	Human Services and that legislated by Congress, for 20
108	108	certain Federal programs to better meet the mate-21
109	109	rial need of households and improve access to cer-22
110	110	tain Federal programs. 23
111	111	SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 24
112	112	In this Act: 25
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115	115	•HR 702 IH
116	116	(1) ALICE THRESHOLD .—The term ‘‘ALICE 1
117	117	threshold’’ means the Asset Limited, Income Con-2
118	118	strained, Employed measure developed by the United 3
119	119	Way of Northern New Jersey as an alternative to 4
120	120	the poverty line that includes the regional minimum 5
121	121	cost of necessities including housing, child care, 6
122	122	food, transportation, healthcare, and taxes. 7
123	123	(2) P
124	124	OVERTY LINE.—The term ‘‘poverty line’’ 8
125	125	has the same definition as under section 673 of the 9
126	126	Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 10
127	127	9902). 11
128	128	(3) P
129	129	OVERTY THRESHOLD .—The term ‘‘poverty 12
130	130	threshold’’ means the dollar amounts used by the 13
131	131	Bureau of the Census to determine a household’s 14
132	132	poverty line status. 15
133	133	(4) R
134	134	EGIONAL PRICE PARITY.—The term ‘‘Re-16
135	135	gional Price Parity’’ means the difference in price 17
136	136	levels between a State and the national average, ex-18
137	137	pressed as a percentage of the overall national price 19
138	138	level, as published by the Bureau of Economic Anal-20
139	139	ysis. 21
140	140	(5) S
141	141	TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 22
142	142	State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 23
143	143	the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is-24
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146	146	•HR 702 IH
147	147	lands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common-1
148	148	wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 2
149	149	SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATES. 3
150	150	Section 2 shall take effect 1 year after the date of 4
151	151	the enactment of this Act and section 3 shall take effect 5
152	152	3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 6
153	153	Æ
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