ASSET Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5848 To eliminate asset limits employed by certain federally funded means-tested public assistance programs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 11, 2020 Mr. COX of California (for himself, Ms. SCHRIER, and Mr. GOMEZ) 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 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Feb 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5848 IH 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. 1 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds as follows: 2 (1) Many means-tested public assistance pro- 3 grams limit eligibility for benefits on the basis of the 4 assets of a family, such as savings and other re- 5 sources. Such asset limits impede the ability of 6 needy families to improve their financial cir- 7 cumstances and thereby reduce their dependence on 8 public assistance programs. 9 (2) Restricting eligibility for public assistance 10 programs on the basis of assets negatively affects 11 the financial security of low-income families. For ex- 12 ample, to avoid losing eligibility for public assistance 13 under an asset limit, a family may avoid mainstream 14 financial services such as bank accounts, or refrain 15 from acquiring and saving resources that would en- 16 able the family to weather an unanticipated expense. 17 (3) The risk that people who don’t need public 18 assistance will take advantage of public assistance 19 programs in the absence of asset limits is low, in 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5848 IH part because most applicants for public assistance 1 have very few assets, must meet strict work require- 2 ments, and usually may only participate in a pro- 3 gram for a limited time. 4 (4) Evidence from States that have eliminated 5 asset limits suggests that the administrative cost 6 savings associated with the elimination of asset lim- 7 its outweigh any increases in payments made to 8 beneficiaries. 9 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 10 gress that certain federally funded means-tested public as- 11 sistance programs should not utilize asset limits to restrict 12 eligibility for assistance under those programs. 13 SEC. 3. STATES PROHIBITED FROM IMPOSING ASSET LIM- 14 ITS ON PROGRAMS FUNDED BY TEMPORARY 15 ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES (TANF) 16 GRANTS. 17 (a) NO STATE LIMITATION ON ALLOWABLE FINAN- 18 CIAL RESOURCES.—Section 408(a) of the Social Security 19 Act (42 U.S.C. 608(a)) is amended by adding at the end 20 the following new paragraph: 21 ‘‘(13) NO ASSET OR RESOURCE LIMIT.—A State 22 to which a grant is made under section 403 shall not 23 apply any asset or resource limit for eligibility of a 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Feb 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5848 IH family for any benefit, assistance, or service provided 1 under the State program funded under this part.’’. 2 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 408(f) of 3 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 608(f)) is amended— 4 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 5 striking ‘‘or resources’’; and 6 (2) in paragraph (1)— 7 (A) in the paragraph header, by striking 8 ‘‘AND RESOURCES’’; 9 (B) by striking subparagraph (B); 10 (C) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 11 subparagraph (B); and 12 (D) in subparagraph (B) (as so redesig- 13 nated), by striking ‘‘and resources’’ each place 14 it appears. 15 (c) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION RE- 16 QUIRED.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a State to 18 which a grant is made under section 403 of the So- 19 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 603) that the Secretary 20 of Health and Human Services determines requires 21 State legislation (other than legislation appro- 22 priating funds) to meet the requirements of para- 23 graph (13) of section 408(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 24 608(a)), such State shall not be regarded as failing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:44 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5848 IH to comply with the requirements of such paragraph 1 before the first day of the first calendar quarter that 2 begins after the close of the first regular session of 3 the State legislature that begins after the date of en- 4 actment of this Act. 5 (2) 2-YEAR LEGISLATIVE SESSION.—For pur- 6 poses of paragraph (1), in the case of a State that 7 has a 2-year legislative session, each year of the ses- 8 sion shall be considered to be a separate regular ses- 9 sion of the State legislature. 10 SEC. 4. ELIMINATING ASSET LIMITS IN THE SUPPLE- 11 MENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 12 (SNAP). 13 (a) IN GENERAL.— 14 (1) ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS.—Section 5 of the 15 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is 16 amended— 17 (A) in subsection (a), in the first sentence, 18 by striking ‘‘and other financial resources’’; 19 (B) by striking subsections (g) and (j); 20 (C) by redesignating subsections (h), (i), 21 (k), (l), (m), and (n) as subsections (g), (h), (i), 22 (j), (k), and (l), respectively; and 23 (D) in subsection (h) (as so redesig- 24 nated)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:44 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5848 IH (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and 1 resources’’ each place it appears; and 2 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 3 (I) by striking subparagraph (B); 4 and 5 (II) by redesignating subpara- 6 graphs (C) through (E) as subpara- 7 graphs (B) through (D), respectively. 8 (2) ELIGIBILITY DISQUALIFICATIONS.—Section 9 6 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 10 2015) is amended— 11 (A) by striking subsection (h); and 12 (B) by redesignating subsections (i) 13 through (s) as subsections (h) through (r), re- 14 spectively. 15 (3) RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, AND EVALUA- 16 TIONS.—Section 17 of the Food and Nutrition Act 17 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2026) is amended— 18 (A) by striking subsections (h) and (i); and 19 (B) by redesignating subsections (j) 20 through (n) as subsections (h) through (l), re- 21 spectively. 22 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 23 (1) Section 5 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 24 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:44 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5848 IH (A) in subsection (a), in the second sen- 1 tence, by striking ‘‘and (r)’’ and inserting ‘‘and 2 (q)’’; and 3 (B) in subsection (d)— 4 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sub- 5 section (k)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (i)’’; 6 and 7 (ii) in paragraph (10), by striking 8 ‘‘subsection (k) of this section’’ and insert- 9 ing ‘‘subsection (i)’’. 10 (2) Section 6 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 11 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015) is amended— 12 (A) in subsection (d)(4), by striking ‘‘sub- 13 section (o)’’ each place it appears and inserting 14 ‘‘subsection (n)’’; 15 (B) in subsection (f), in the third sentence, 16 by striking ‘‘and financial resources’’; 17 (C) in subsection (q) (as redesignated by 18 subsection (a)(2)(B)), in paragraph (1)(B), by 19 striking ‘‘subsection (k)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 20 section (j)’’; and 21 (D) in subsection (r) (as redesignated by 22 subsection (a)(2)(B)), in paragraph (2)— 23 (i) by striking ‘‘allowable financial re- 24 sources and’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:44 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 5848 IH (ii) by striking ‘‘(g), (i), (k), (l), (m), 1 and (n)’’ and inserting ‘‘(h), (i), (j), (k), 2 and (l)’’. 3 (3) Section 7(i)(1) of the Food and Nutrition 4 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2016(i)(1)) is amended by 5 striking ‘‘section 6(o)(2) of this Act’’ and inserting 6 ‘‘section 6(n)(2)’’. 7 (4) Section 11(e)(22) of the Food and Nutri- 8 tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020(e)(22)) is amended 9 by striking ‘‘section 6(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 10 6(h)’’. 11 (5) Section 16 of the Food and Nutrition Act 12 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2025) is amended— 13 (A) in subsection (a)(9), by striking ‘‘sec- 14 tion 17(n)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 17(l)’’; and 15 (B) in subsection (h)— 16 (i) in paragraph (1)— 17 (I) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by 18 striking ‘‘section 6(o)’’ and inserting 19 ‘‘section 6(n)’’; 20 (II) in subparagraph (E)— 21 (aa) by striking ‘‘section 22 6(o)(3)’’ each place it appears 23 and inserting ‘‘section 6(n)(3)’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:44 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 5848 IH (bb) by striking ‘‘section 1 6(o)(2)’’ each place it appears 2 and inserting ‘‘section 6(n)(2)’’; 3 and 4 (cc) in clause (ii)— 5 (AA) in subclause (III), 6 by striking ‘‘section 6(o)(4)’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘section 8 6(n)(4)’’; and 9 (BB) in subclause (IV), 10 by striking ‘‘section 6(o)(6)’’ 11 and inserting ‘‘section 12 6(n)(6)’’; and 13 (III) in subparagraph 14 (F)(ii)(III)(ee)(AA), by striking ‘‘sec- 15 tion 6(o)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 16 6(n)’’; and 17 (ii) in paragraph (5)(C)(iv)(I), by 18 striking ‘‘section 6(o)(2)’’ and inserting 19 ‘‘section 6(n)(2)’’. 20 (6) Section 17 of the Food and Nutrition Act 21 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2026) is amended— 22 (A) in subsection (k) (as redesignated by 23 subsection (a)(3)(B))— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:44 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 5848 IH (i) by striking ‘‘subsections (l) 1 through (n)’’ each place it appears and in- 2 serting ‘‘subsections (k) through (m)’’; and 3 (ii) in paragraph (2)(E), by striking 4 ‘‘section 6(l)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 5 6(k)(2)’’; and 6 (B) in subsection (l) (as redesignated by 7 subsection (a)(3)(B)), in paragraph 8 (4)(A)(i)(II), by striking ‘‘and financial re- 9 sources (as described in section 5(g))’’. 10 (7) Section 18(g)(2) of the Food and Nutrition 11 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2027(g)(2)) is amended by 12 striking ‘‘section 5(h)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 5(g)’’. 13 (8) Section 103(a)(2)(D) of the Workforce In- 14 novation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 15 3113(a)(2)(D)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 6(o) 16 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 17 2015(o))’’ and inserting ‘‘section 6(n) of the Food 18 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(n))’’. 19 (9) Section 121(b)(2)(B)(iv) of the Workforce 20 Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 21 3151(b)(2)(B)(iv)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 22 6(o) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 23 U.S.C. 2015(o))’’ and inserting ‘‘section 6(n) of the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:44 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 5848 IH Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 1 2015(n))’’. 2 (10) Section 454 of the Social Security Act (42 3 U.S.C. 654) is amended— 4 (A) in paragraph (4)(A)(i), by striking 5 ‘‘section 6(l)(1) of the Food and Nutrition Act 6 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(l)(1))’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘section 6(k)(1) of the Food and Nutrition Act 8 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(k)(1))’’; 9 (B) in paragraph (6)(B)(i), by striking 10 ‘‘subsection (l) or (m) of section 6 of the Food 11 and Nutrition Act of 2008’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 12 section (k) or (l) of section 6 of the Food and 13 Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015)’’; and 14 (C) in paragraph (29)(A)(ii), by striking 15 ‘‘section 6(l)(2) of the Food and Nutrition Act 16 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(l)(2))’’ and inserting 17 ‘‘section 6(k)(2) of the Food and Nutrition Act 18 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(k)(2))’’. 19 (c) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION RE- 20 QUIRED.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a State plan 22 under section 11 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 23 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020) that the Secretary of Agri- 24 culture determines requires State legislation (other 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:44 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5848.IH H5848 TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 5848 IH than legislation appropriating funds) in order for the 1 plan to meet the additional requirements imposed by 2 the amendments made by this section, the State 3 plan shall not be regarded as failing to comply with 4 the requirements of section 11 of the Food and Nu- 5 trition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020) solely on the 6 basis of the failure of the plan to meet those addi- 7 tional requirements before the first day of the first 8 calendar quarter that begins after the close of the 9 first regular session of the State legislature that be- 10 gins after the date of enactment of this Act. 11 (2) LEGISLATIVE SESSION.—For purposes of 12 paragraph (1), in the case of a State that has a 2- 13 year legislative session, each year of the session shall 14 be considered a separate regular session of the State 15 legislature. 16 SEC. 5. ELIMINATING ASSET LIMIT IN LOW INCOME HOME 17 ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP). 18 (a) ELIMINATION OF LIMITATIONS ON ALLOWABLE 19 FINANCIAL RESOURCES.—Section 2605(b)(2) of the Low- 20 Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 21 8624(b)(2)) is amended, in the matter following subpara- 22 graph (B), by inserting ‘‘, [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]