Poverty Statistics Enhancement Act
Sponsored By: Senator Kennedy, John [R-LA]
Introduced
Summary
This bill would require the Bureau of the Census to add the Congressional Budget Office's distributional analysis of household income to poverty measurement and modernize how income is counted alongside the Official Poverty Measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
1 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
New national poverty measure
If enacted, the bill would require the Census Bureau Director to adopt a new poverty measure within one year. The new measure would count earned income plus government transfers, then subtract taxes, and would follow the Congressional Budget Office method when there is a conflict. The Director would use the new method for future reports, recalculate past estimates, and report to Congress within one year after starting. The Census could request state and federal tax and program data (federal agencies would have 180 days to provide data if law allows) and must reconcile totals to trusted benchmarks. Refunds from refundable tax credits would be treated as government transfers for the measure. Personal data used for the new measure would follow Census secrecy rules, and knowingly disclosing restricted data could bring fines up to $300,000 or up to 5 years in jail.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Kennedy, John [R-LA]
LA • R
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov