Military Hunger Prevention Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3801 To amend title 37, United States Code, to establish a basic needs allowance for low-income regular members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 17, 2019 Mrs. DAVIS of California (for herself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 37, United States Code, to establish a basic needs allowance for low-income regular members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. 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 ‘‘Military Hunger Pre- 4 vention Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:29 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3801.IH H3801 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3801 IH SEC. 2. BASIC NEEDS ALLOWANCE FOR LOW-INCOME REG- 1 ULAR MEMBERS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 7 of title 37, United 3 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 402a 4 the following new section: 5 ‘‘§ 402b. Basic needs allowance for low-income reg- 6 ular members 7 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE REQUIRED.—(1) Subject to para- 8 graph (2), the Secretary of Defense shall pay to each cov- 9 ered member a basic needs allowance in the amount deter- 10 mined for such member under subsection (b). 11 ‘‘(2) In the event a household contains two or more 12 covered members entitled to receive the allowance under 13 this section in a given year, only one allowance may be 14 paid for that year to a covered member among such cov- 15 ered members whom such covered members shall jointly 16 elect. 17 ‘‘(b) AMOUNT OF ALLOWANCE FOR A COVERED 18 MEMBER.—(1) The amount of the monthly allowance pay- 19 able to a covered member under subsection (a) for a year 20 shall be the aggregate amount equal to— 21 ‘‘(A) the aggregate amount equal to— 22 ‘‘(i) 130 percent of the Federal poverty 23 guidelines of the Department of Health and 24 Human Services for the location and number of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:29 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3801.IH H3801 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3801 IH persons in the household of the covered member 1 for such year; minus 2 ‘‘(ii) the gross household income of the 3 covered member during the preceding year; and 4 ‘‘(B) divided by 12. 5 ‘‘(2) The monthly allowance payable to a covered 6 member for a year shall be payable for each of the 12 7 months following March of such year. 8 ‘‘(c) NOTICE OF ELIGIBILITY.—(1)(A) Not later than 9 December 31 each year, the Director of the Defense Fi- 10 nance and Accounting Service shall notify, in writing, each 11 individual whom the Director estimates will be a covered 12 member during the following year of the potential entitle- 13 ment of that individual to the allowance described in sub- 14 section (a) for that following year. 15 ‘‘(B) The preliminary notice under subparagraph (A) 16 shall include information regarding financial management 17 and assistance programs administered by the Secretary of 18 Defense for which a covered member is eligible. 19 ‘‘(2) Not later than January 31 each year, each indi- 20 vidual who seeks to receive the allowance for such year 21 (whether or not subject to a notice for such year under 22 paragraph (1)) shall submit to the Director such informa- 23 tion as the Director shall require for purposes of this sec- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:29 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3801.IH H3801 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3801 IH tion in order to determine whether or not such individual 1 is a covered member for such year. 2 ‘‘(3) Not later than February 28 each year, the Di- 3 rector shall notify, in writing, each individual the Director 4 determines to be a covered member for such year. 5 ‘‘(d) ELECTION NOT TO RECEIVE ALLOWANCE.—(1) 6 A covered member otherwise entitled to receive the allow- 7 ance under subsection (a) for a year may elect, in writing, 8 not to receive the allowance for such year. Any election 9 under this subsection shall be effective only for the year 10 for which made. Any election for a year under this sub- 11 section is irrevocable. 12 ‘‘(2) A covered member who does not submit informa- 13 tion described in subsection (d)(2) for a year as otherwise 14 required by that subsection shall be deemed to have elect- 15 ed not to receive the allowance for such year. 16 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 17 ‘‘(1) The term ‘covered member’ means a reg- 18 ular member of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or 19 Air Force— 20 ‘‘(A) who has completed initial entry train- 21 ing; 22 ‘‘(B) whose gross household income during 23 the most recent year did not exceed an amount 24 equal to 130 percent of the Federal poverty 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:29 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3801.IH H3801 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3801 IH guidelines of the Department of Health and 1 Human Services for the location and number of 2 persons in the household of the covered member 3 for such year; and 4 ‘‘(C) who does not elect under subsection 5 (d) not to receive the allowance for such year. 6 ‘‘(2) The term ‘gross household income’ of a 7 covered member for a year for purposes of para- 8 graph (1)(B) does not include any basic allowance 9 for housing received by the covered member (and 10 any dependents of the covered member in the house- 11 hold of the covered member) during such year under 12 section 403 of this title. 13 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Defense shall 14 prescribe regulations for the administration of this section. 15 Subject to subsection (e)(2), such regulations shall specify 16 the income to be included in, and excluded from, the gross 17 household income of individuals for purposes of this sec- 18 tion.’’. 19 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 20 at the beginning of chapter 7 of such title is amended by 21 inserting after the item relating to section 402a the fol- 22 lowing new item: 23 ‘‘402b. Basic needs allowance for low-income regular members.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:29 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3801.IH H3801 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS