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II
117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 1052
To improve the poverty measurement methodology used by the Bureau of
the Census to more accurately measure poverty in the United States.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH 25, 2021
Mr. LEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To improve the poverty measurement methodology used by
the Bureau of the Census to more accurately measure
poverty in the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Poverty Measurement
4
Improvement Act’’.
5
SEC. 2. IMPROVING THE MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY IN
6
THE UNITED STATES.
7
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
8
(1) FEDERAL
BENEFIT.—The term ‘‘Federal
9
benefit’’ means a benefit, refundable tax credit, or
10
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other form of assistance provided under any of the
1
following programs:
2
(A) Earned Income Tax Credit (refundable
3
portion).
4
(B) Child Tax Credit (refundable portion).
5
(C) Supplemental Security Income.
6
(D) Temporary Assistance for Needy Fam-
7
ilies.
8
(E) Title IV–E Foster Care.
9
(F) Title IV–E Adoption Assistance.
10
(G) Medicaid.
11
(H) SCHIP.
12
(I) Indian Health Services.
13
(J) PPACA refundable premium assistance
14
and cost sharing tax credit.
15
(K) Assets for Independence program.
16
(L) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
17
Food Program.
18
(M) School Breakfast.
19
(N) School Lunch.
20
(O) Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
21
Food Program.
22
(P) Child and Adult Care Food Program.
23
(Q) The Food Distribution Program on In-
24
dian Reservations (FDPIR).
25
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(R) Nutrition Program for the Elderly.
1
(S) Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition
2
Program.
3
(T) Commodity Supplemental Food Pro-
4
gram.
5
(U) Section 8 Housing.
6
(V) Public Housing.
7
(W) Housing for Persons with Disabilities.
8
(X) Home Investment Partnership Pro-
9
gram.
10
(Y) Rural Housing Service.
11
(Z) Rural Housing Insurance Fund.
12
(AA) Low-Income Home Energy Assist-
13
ance Program.
14
(BB) Universal Service Fund Low Income
15
Support Mechanism (subsidized phone services).
16
(CC) Pell Grants.
17
(DD) Supplemental Educational Oppor-
18
tunity Grants.
19
(EE) American Opportunity Tax Credit
20
(refundable portion).
21
(FF) Healthy Start.
22
(GG) Job Corps.
23
(HH) Head Start (including Early Head
24
Start).
25
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(II) Weatherization Assistance.
1
(JJ) Chafee Foster Care Independence
2
Program.
3
(KK) Child Care Subsidies from the Child
4
Care and Development Fund.
5
(LL) Child Care from the Temporary As-
6
sistance for Needy Families Block Grant.
7
(MM) Emergency Assistance to Needy
8
Families with Children.
9
(NN) Senior Community Service Employ-
10
ment Program.
11
(OO) Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers
12
Training Program.
13
(PP) Indian and Native American Employ-
14
ment and Training Program.
15
(QQ) Independent Living Education and
16
Training Vouchers.
17
(2) RESOURCE
UNIT.—The term ‘‘resource
18
unit’’ means all co-resident individuals who are re-
19
lated by birth, marriage, or adoption, plus any co-
20
resident unrelated children, foster children, and un-
21
married partners and their relatives.
22
(3) MARKET INCOME.—The term ‘‘market in-
23
come’’ means individual income from the following:
24
(A) Earnings.
25
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(B) Interest.
1
(C) Dividends.
2
(D) Rents, royalties, and estates and
3
trusts.
4
(E) The monetary value of employer-spon-
5
sored health insurance benefits.
6
(F) Other forms of income, as determined
7
by the Director.
8
(4) ENTITLEMENT AND OTHER INCOME.—The
9
term ‘‘entitlement and other income’’ means income
10
from the following:
11
(A) Unemployment (insurance) compensa-
12
tion.
13
(B) Workers’ compensation.
14
(C) Social Security.
15
(D) Veterans’ payments and benefits.
16
(E) Survivor benefits.
17
(F) Disability benefits (not including bene-
18
fits under the Supplemental Security Income
19
program).
20
(G) Pension or retirement income.
21
(H) Alimony.
22
(I) Child support.
23
(J) Financial assistance from outside of
24
the household.
25
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(K) Medicare.
1
(5) ENTITLEMENT
AND
EARNED
UNIT
IN-
2
COME.—The term ‘‘entitlement and earned unit in-
3
come’’ means the sum of all market income and en-
4
titlement and other income.
5
(6) INCOME TAX DATA.—The term ‘‘income tax
6
data’’ means return information, as such term is de-
7
fined under section 6103(b)(2) of the Internal Rev-
8
enue Code of 1986.
9
(7) ADMINISTERING AGENCY.—The term ‘‘ad-
10
ministering agency’’ means a State or Federal agen-
11
cy responsible for administering a Federal benefit.
12
(8) TOTAL
RESOURCE
UNIT
INCOME.—The
13
term ‘‘total resource unit income’’ means, with re-
14
spect to a resource unit, an amount equal to—
15
(A) the sum of—
16
(i) all market income attributable to
17
members of the unit;
18
(ii) all entitlement and other income
19
attributable to members of the unit; and
20
(iii) an amount, or cash equivalent, of
21
all Federal benefits received by members of
22
the unit; minus
23
(B) all State and Federal income and pay-
24
roll taxes attributable to members of the unit.
25
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(9) EARNED
RESOURCE
UNIT
INCOME.—The
1
term ‘‘earned resource unit income’’ means, with re-
2
spect to a resource unit, all market income attrib-
3
utable to members of the unit.
4
(10) PERSONALLY
IDENTIFIABLE
INFORMA-
5
TION.—The term ‘‘personally identifiable informa-
6
tion’’ means any information that identifies an indi-
7
vidual or could reasonably be used to identify an in-
8
dividual that is—
9
(A) collected pursuant to a survey con-
10
ducted by the Bureau of the Census; or
11
(B) disclosed to the Bureau of the Census
12
by an administering agency for the purpose of
13
carrying out subsection (b).
14
(11) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means
15
the Director of the Bureau of the Census.
16
(b) VERIFICATION OF DATA COLLECTED IN THE AN-
17
NUAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SUPPLEMENT TO THE CUR-
18
RENT POPULATION SURVEY.—
19
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Beginning in fiscal year
20
2021, in order to more accurately determine the ex-
21
tent of poverty in the United States and the anti-
22
poverty effectiveness of Federal benefit programs,
23
the Director shall collect, in addition to the data col-
24
lected under the Annual Social and Economic Sup-
25
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plement to the Current Population Survey, data
1
from the appropriate administering agencies related
2
to the following:
3
(A) Participation in any Federal benefit
4
program and the monetary or cash equivalent
5
value of such benefit for an individual, where
6
possible, and otherwise for resource units or
7
households.
8
(B) The total amount of market income
9
for individuals.
10
(C) The total amount of entitlement and
11
other income for individuals.
12
(D) Payment of income taxes and payroll
13
taxes for individuals.
14
(E) Total resource unit income.
15
(F) Total earned resource unit income.
16
(G) Any other information about benefits
17
or income received by individuals that the Di-
18
rector determines necessary to carry out this
19
section and that is not included in the data re-
20
lating to participation in Federal benefit pro-
21
grams or market income for individuals.
22
(2) ADMINISTERING AGENCY DATA.—Not later
23
than 6 months after receiving a request from the Di-
24
rector, the head of each administering agency shall
25
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make available to the Director such data (including
1
income tax data) as the Director shall require for
2
the purpose of carrying out this subsection and for
3
the purposes outlined in section 6 of title 13, United
4
States Code.
5
(3) PUBLICATION OF DATA.—
6
(A) RATES AND OTHER DATA.—
7
(i) REPORT.—The Director shall sub-
8
mit to Congress, not later than January 1,
9
2023, a report detailing the implementa-
10
tion of this Act, including—
11
(I) the availability of related
12
data;
13
(II) the quality of the data; and
14
(III) the methodology proposed
15
for assigning dollar values to the re-
16
ceipt of noncash Federal benefits.
17
(ii) TABLES AND GRAPHS.—The Di-
18
rector shall produce tables and graphs
19
showing for each year the poverty rates
20
and related data calculated using data col-
21
lected under paragraph (1), including—
22
(I) the total resource unit income
23
for survey respondents;
24
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(II) the total earned resource
1
unit income for survey respondents;
2
(III) the total of all amounts de-
3
scribed in subparagraphs (A) through
4
(G) of paragraph (1) that are received
5
by survey respondents;
6
(IV) a breakdown of the amount
7
of income taxes and payroll taxes at-
8
tributable to survey respondents; and
9
(V) for 2024 and subsequent
10
years, poverty rates calculated using
11
updated poverty thresholds as de-
12
scribed in clause (iii).
13
(iii) UPDATED
POVERTY
THRESH-
14
OLDS.—For 2024 and subsequent years,
15
the Director shall, in addition to the offi-
16
cial poverty line (as defined by the Office
17
of Management and Budget) and the sup-
18
plemental poverty measure, provide an al-
19
ternative poverty measure that uses the
20
personal consumption expenditure price
21
index (as published by the Bureau of Eco-
22
nomic Analysis) and accounts for the data
23
collected under paragraph (1). The Direc-
24
tor shall provide a comparison of the offi-
25
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cial poverty line (as defined by the Office
1
of Management and Budget), the supple-
2
mental poverty measure rate as defined by
3
the Bureau of the Census, and the alter-
4
native poverty rate created using the alter-
5
native poverty measure under this Act.
6
(iv) RULE
OF
CONSTRUCTION.—The
7
Office of Management and Budget shall
8
not use the additional data collected by the
9
Director pursuant to paragraph (1) for
10
purposes of defining the official poverty
11
line.
12
(B) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Consistent with
13
the provisions of sections 8, 9, and 23(c) of title
14
13, United States Code, the Director shall en-
15
sure the confidentiality of information furnished
16
to the Director under this subsection.
17
(c) PROTECTION AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONALLY
18
IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.—
19
(1) IN GENERAL.—The security, disclosure, and
20
confidentiality provisions set forth in sections 9 and
21
23 of title 13, United States Code, shall apply to
22
personally identifiable information obtained by the
23
Bureau of the Census pursuant to this Act.
24
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(2) RESTRICTED
ACCESS
TO
PERSONALLY
1
IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.—Access to personally
2
identifiable information collected to supplement the
3
restricted-use Current Population Survey Annual So-
4
cial and Economic Supplements in accordance with
5
subsection (b)(1) shall be available only to those who
6
have access to the Current Population Survey data
7
with the permission of the Bureau of the Census and
8
in accordance with any other applicable provision of
9
law.
10
(3) PENALTIES.—Any individual who knowingly
11
accesses or discloses personally identifiable informa-
12
tion in violation of this section shall be guilty of a
13
felony and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in
14
an amount of not more than $300,000 under title
15
18, United States Code, or imprisoned for not more
16
than five years, or both.
17
(d) STATE REPORTING OF FEDERAL DATA.—Begin-
18
ning with the first full calendar year that begins after the
19
date of enactment of this Act, with respect to any Federal
20
benefit that is administered at the State level by a State
21
administering agency, such State administering agency
22
shall submit each year to the Federal administering agen-
23
cy responsible for administering the benefit at the Federal
24
level a report that identifies each resource unit that re-
25
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ceived such benefits during such year by the personally
1
identifiable information of the head of the resource unit
2
and the amount, or cash equivalent, of such benefit re-
3
ceived by such resource unit.
4
SEC. 3. COMMISSION ON VALUATION OF GOVERNMENT
5
BENEFITS.
6
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within
7
the United States Census Bureau a commission, to be
8
known as the ‘‘Commission on Valuation of Federal Bene-
9
fits’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Commission’’).
10
(b) COMPOSITION.—
11
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Commission shall be
12
composed of 8 members, of whom—
13
(A) 2 members shall be appointed by the
14
majority leader of the Senate;
15
(B) 2 members shall be appointed by the
16
minority leader of the Senate;
17
(C) 2 members shall be appointed by the
18
Speaker of the House of Representatives; and
19
(D) 2 members shall be appointed by the
20
minority leader of the House of Representa-
21
tives.
22
(2) CO-CHAIRS.—Of the members of the Com-
23
mission—
24
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