ASSET Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3822 To eliminate asset limits employed by certain federally funded means-tested public assistance programs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 11, 2021 Mr. GOMEZ (for himself, Ms. SCHRIER, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. NORTON, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. SE- WELL, Mr. EVANS, Mr. CARSON, and Ms. LEE of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently de- termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To eliminate asset limits employed by certain federally fund- ed means-tested public assistance programs, and for other purposes. 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Allowing Steady Savings by Eliminating Tests Act’’ or 5 the ‘‘ASSET Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3822 IH (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1 this Act is as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings; sense of Congress. Sec. 3. States prohibited from imposing asset limits on programs funded by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grants. Sec. 4. Eliminating asset limits in the supplemental nutrition assistance pro- gram (SNAP). Sec. 5. Eliminating asset limit in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Pro- gram (LIHEAP). Sec. 6. Updating and indexing the resource limit for supplemental security in- come (SSI). Sec. 7. Effective date. SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 3 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds as follows: 4 (1) Many means-tested public assistance pro- 5 grams limit eligibility for benefits on the basis of the 6 assets of a family, such as savings and other re- 7 sources. Such asset limits impede the ability of 8 needy families to improve their financial cir- 9 cumstances and thereby reduce their dependence on 10 public assistance programs. 11 (2) Restricting eligibility for public assistance 12 programs on the basis of assets negatively affects 13 the financial security of low-income families. For ex- 14 ample, to avoid losing eligibility for public assistance 15 under an asset limit, a family may avoid mainstream 16 financial services such as bank accounts, or refrain 17 from acquiring and saving resources that would en- 18 able the family to weather an unanticipated expense. 19 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3822 IH (3) The risk that people who don’t need public 1 assistance will take advantage of public assistance 2 programs in the absence of asset limits is low, in 3 part because most applicants for public assistance 4 have very few assets, must meet strict work require- 5 ments, and usually may only participate in a pro- 6 gram for a limited time. 7 (4) Evidence from States that have eliminated 8 asset limits suggests that the administrative cost 9 savings associated with the elimination of asset lim- 10 its outweigh any increases in payments made to 11 beneficiaries. 12 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 13 gress that certain federally funded means-tested public as- 14 sistance programs should not utilize asset limits to restrict 15 eligibility for assistance under those programs. 16 SEC. 3. STATES PROHIBITED FROM IMPOSING ASSET LIM- 17 ITS ON PROGRAMS FUNDED BY TEMPORARY 18 ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES (TANF) 19 GRANTS. 20 (a) NO STATE LIMITATION ON ALLOWABLE FINAN- 21 CIAL RESOURCES.—Section 408(a) of the Social Security 22 Act (42 U.S.C. 608(a)) is amended by adding at the end 23 the following new paragraph: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3822 IH ‘‘(13) NO ASSET OR RESOURCE LIMIT.—A State 1 to which a grant is made under section 403 shall not 2 apply any asset or resource limit for eligibility of a 3 family for any benefit, assistance, or service provided 4 under the State program funded under this part.’’. 5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 408(f) of 6 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 608(f)) is amended— 7 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 8 striking ‘‘or resources’’; and 9 (2) in paragraph (1)— 10 (A) in the paragraph header, by striking 11 ‘‘AND RESOURCES’’; 12 (B) by striking subparagraph (B); 13 (C) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 14 subparagraph (B); and 15 (D) in subparagraph (B) (as so redesig- 16 nated), by striking ‘‘and resources’’ each place 17 it appears. 18 (c) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION RE- 19 QUIRED.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a State to 21 which a grant is made under section 403 of the So- 22 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 603) that the Secretary 23 of Health and Human Services determines requires 24 State legislation (other than legislation appro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3822 IH priating funds) to meet the requirements of para- 1 graph (13) of section 408(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2 608(a)), such State shall not be regarded as failing 3 to comply with the requirements of such paragraph 4 before the first day of the first calendar quarter that 5 begins after the close of the first regular session of 6 the State legislature that begins after the date of en- 7 actment of this Act. 8 (2) 2-YEAR LEGISLATIVE SESSION.—For pur- 9 poses of paragraph (1), in the case of a State that 10 has a 2-year legislative session, each year of the ses- 11 sion shall be considered to be a separate regular ses- 12 sion of the State legislature. 13 SEC. 4. ELIMINATING ASSET LIMITS IN THE SUPPLE- 14 MENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 15 (SNAP). 16 (a) IN GENERAL.— 17 (1) ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS.—Section 5 of the 18 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is 19 amended— 20 (A) in subsection (a), in the first sentence, 21 by striking ‘‘and other financial resources’’; 22 (B) by striking subsections (g) and (j); 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3822 IH (C) by redesignating subsections (h), (i), 1 (k), (l), (m), and (n) as subsections (g), (h), (i), 2 (j), (k), and (l), respectively; and 3 (D) in subsection (h) (as so redesig- 4 nated)— 5 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and 6 resources’’ each place it appears; and 7 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 8 (I) by striking subparagraph (B); 9 and 10 (II) by redesignating subpara- 11 graphs (C) through (E) as subpara- 12 graphs (B) through (D), respectively. 13 (2) ELIGIBILITY DISQUALIFICATIONS.—Section 14 6 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 15 2015) is amended— 16 (A) by striking subsection (h); and 17 (B) by redesignating subsections (i) 18 through (s) as subsections (h) through (r), re- 19 spectively. 20 (3) RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, AND EVALUA- 21 TIONS.—Section 17 of the Food and Nutrition Act 22 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2026) is amended— 23 (A) by striking subsections (h) and (i); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3822 IH (B) by redesignating subsections (j) 1 through (n) as subsections (h) through (l), re- 2 spectively. 3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 4 (1) Section 5 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 5 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is amended— 6 (A) in subsection (a), in the second sen- 7 tence, by striking ‘‘and (r)’’ and inserting ‘‘and 8 (q)’’; and 9 (B) in subsection (d)— 10 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sub- 11 section (k)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (i)’’; 12 and 13 (ii) in paragraph (10), by striking 14 ‘‘subsection (k) of this section’’ and insert- 15 ing ‘‘subsection (i)’’. 16 (2) Section 6 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 17 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015) is amended— 18 (A) in subsection (d)(4), by striking ‘‘sub- 19 section (o)’’ each place it appears and inserting 20 ‘‘subsection (n)’’; 21 (B) in subsection (f), in the third sentence, 22 by striking ‘‘and financial resources’’; 23 (C) in subsection (q) (as redesignated by 24 subsection (a)(2)(B)), in paragraph (1)(B), by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3822 IH striking ‘‘subsection (k)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 1 section (j)’’; and 2 (D) in subsection (r) (as redesignated by 3 subsection (a)(2)(B)), in paragraph (2)— 4 (i) by striking ‘‘allowable financial re- 5 sources and’’; and 6 (ii) by striking ‘‘(g), (i), (k), (l), (m), 7 and (n)’’ and inserting ‘‘(h), (i), (j), (k), 8 and (l)’’. 9 (3) Section 7(i)(1) of the Food and Nutrition 10 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2016(i)(1)) is amended by 11 striking ‘‘section 6(o)(2) of this Act’’ and inserting 12 ‘‘section 6(n)(2)’’. 13 (4) Section 11(e)(22) of the Food and Nutri- 14 tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020(e)(22)) is amended 15 by striking ‘‘section 6(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 16 6(h)’’. 17 (5) Section 16 of the Food and Nutrition Act 18 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2025) is amended— 19 (A) in subsection (a)(9), by striking ‘‘sec- 20 tion 17(n)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 17(l)’’; and 21 (B) in subsection (h)— 22 (i) in paragraph (1)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3822 IH (I) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by 1 striking ‘‘section 6(o)’’ and inserting 2 ‘‘section 6(n)’’; 3 (II) in subparagraph (E)— 4 (aa) by striking ‘‘section 5 6(o)(3)’’ each place it appears 6 and inserting ‘‘section 6(n)(3)’’; 7 (bb) by striking ‘‘section 8 6(o)(2)’’ each place it appears 9 and inserting ‘‘section 6(n)(2)’’; 10 and 11 (cc) in clause (ii)— 12 (AA) in subclause (III), 13 by striking ‘‘section 6(o)(4)’’ 14 and inserting ‘‘section 15 6(n)(4)’’; and 16 (BB) in subclause (IV), 17 by striking ‘‘section 6(o)(6)’’ 18 and inserting ‘‘section 19 6(n)(6)’’; and 20 (III) in subparagraph 21 (F)(ii)(III)(ee)(AA), by striking ‘‘sec- 22 tion 6(o)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 23 6(n)’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3822 IH (ii) in paragraph (5)(C)(iv)(I), by 1 striking ‘‘section 6(o)(2)’’ and inserting 2 ‘‘section 6(n)(2)’’. 3 (6) Section 17 of the Food and Nutrition Act 4 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2026) is amended— 5 (A) in subsection (k) (as redesignated by 6 subsection (a)(3)(B))— 7 (i) by striking ‘‘subsections (l) 8 through (n)’’ each place it appears and in- 9 serting ‘‘subsections (k) through (m)’’; and 10 (ii) in paragraph (2)(E), by striking 11 ‘‘section 6(l)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 12 6(k)(2)’’; and 13 (B) in subsection (l) (as redesignated by 14 subsection (a)(3)(B)), in paragraph 15 (4)(A)(i)(II), by striking ‘‘and financial re- 16 sources (as described in section 5(g))’’. 17 (7) Section 18(g)(2) of the Food and Nutrition 18 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2027(g)(2)) is amended by 19 striking ‘‘section 5(h)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 5(g)’’. 20 (8) Section 103(a)(2)(D) of the Workforce In- 21 novation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 22 3113(a)(2)(D)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 6(o) 23 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3822 IH 2015(o))’’ and inserting ‘‘section 6(n) of the Food 1 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(n))’’. 2 (9) Section 121(b)(2)(B)(iv) of the Workforce 3 Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 4 3151(b)(2)(B)(iv)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 5 6(o) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 6 U.S.C. 2015(o))’’ and inserting ‘‘section 6(n) of the 7 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 8 2015(n))’’. 9 (10) Section 454 of the Social Security Act (42 10 U.S.C. 654) is amended— 11 (A) in paragraph (4)(A)(i), by striking 12 ‘‘section 6(l)(1) of the Food and Nutrition Act 13 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(l)(1))’’ and inserting 14 ‘‘section 6(k)(1) of the Food and Nutrition Act 15 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(k)(1))’’; 16 (B) in paragraph (6)(B)(i), by striking 17 ‘‘subsection (l) or (m) of section 6 of the Food 18 and Nutrition Act of 2008’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 19 section (k) or (l) of section 6 of the Food and 20 Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015)’’; and 21 (C) in paragraph (29)(A)(ii), by striking 22 ‘‘section 6(l)(2) of the Food and Nutrition Act 23 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(l)(2))’’ and inserting 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3822 IH ‘‘section 6(k)(2) of the Food and Nutrition Act 1 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(k)(2))’’. 2 (c) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION RE- 3 QUIRED.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a State plan 5 under section 11 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 6 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020) that the Secretary of Agri- 7 culture determines requires State legislation (other 8 than legislation appropriating funds) in order for the 9 plan to meet the additional requirements imposed by 10 the amendments made by this section, the State 11 plan shall not be regarded as failing to comply with 12 the requirements of section 11 of the Food and Nu- 13 trition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020) solely on the 14 basis of the failure of the plan to meet those addi- 15 tional requirements before the first day of the first 16 calendar quarter that begins after the close of the 17 first regular session of the State legislature that be- 18 gins after the date of enactment of this Act. 19 (2) LEGISLATIVE SESSION.—For purposes of 20 paragraph (1), in the case of a State that has a 2- 21 year legislative session, each year of the session shall 22 be considered a separate regular session of the State 23 legislature. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:25 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3822.IH H3822 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3822 IH SEC. 5. ELIMINATING ASSET LIMIT IN LOW INCOME HOME 1 ENERGY ASSISTA [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]